Keep it Simple, Stupid

It is such a pleasure to be asked to make a commencement speech, but, to be honest, at the beginning, I had no idea what commencement was. I thought the same way as famous television host, Ellen DeGeneres. Commencement - “common” and “cement” - common cement. So, I was really confused why my English teacher, Mr. Ben, told me to write a speech about “Common cement.” He is not my science teacher.  After I did some research on the internet, I noticed commencement comes from the French word, “commencer” which means “the starting”.   Eh… wait a second… this made me feel even more confused.  It didn’t make sense! Graduation should mark the end of something.  In this case, the end of our high school life! (La stupide française!) Ok, French aside, this celebration truly is a commencement.  It signals the end of our high school careers, but the beginning of a whole new life awaiting us.  Right now, at this exact moment, our possibilities are endless – infinite.  The door ahead is wide open. It is our time to walk through it.

In Grade 11, we stayed at school so late and worked as a small family to prepare for our first diploma exam in math…to everyone’s surprise, we all received a great mark in the end. Just liked the song we sang “Those were the days; hard work forever pays; now I see us in a better place.”  We not only improved our skills on paper in Grade 11, but we also explored so many other areas of academics.  We made presentations, a rap video, collected insects and leaves outside school. We achieved excellent results in our academics, but we also improved our ability to create and imagine.

Friendly reminder to all Grade 12’s, I can 100% assure you that your life will be more difficult in university. Grade 10 and Grade 11, don’t be so happy first, you will go through what we have done. In the future, all of us will make a lot of choices, we might struggle and feel confused, but we need to be ourselves, follow our heart, and follow Holiday’s “KISS” principle; “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”  Every person has their own goal, as a famous Chinese host, 何炅, said, if you want to receive your goal, you have to pay first then you need to persevere.  If you think it’s really hard, you can just give up, but once you give up please do not complain anymore.  Life is like this; the world is balanced, everyone’s efforts decide their own life.

Finally, today is a very special day in China - May, 20^th - 520 means I love you in Chinese.   I love you, CIHS, the family that I grew up with for the past 3 years, the place that I received my knowledge. I love you, all the people who worked for CIHS in the past; Mandy, Freya, Eric, Mr. Ben, Maggie, Ting, Meili, Miss Megan, Winona, Mr. Jonathan - because of you, I learned departure is only for a better reunion.

I love you, Ray, our naughty principle who always plays tricks on us, thank you for your support in these 3 years.  I love you, Eli, please have your 3 meals on time, and smoke as little as you can, we do care about you, and we do hope you can live longer because we don’t want to lose you. I love you, Ivy (my mom at CIHS), I can always count on you and talk to you if I have any trouble. I love you, Jennifer, a beautiful, clever, 段子手网红, young lady. You always bring us fun, and I deeply believe you can be a person who you want to be in the future. I love you, Mr. Handsome Ben, my big brother who loves to drink mochas and Pepsi, my snappy teacher who has the coolest hair style in the world. It’s such a pleasure to be your students. You take care of us like your younger sisters and brothers. In my mind, you are the man always on fire.  I love you, Mr.Blair, although we love to make fun of you, we actually very much appreciate your hard work.  I love you, Ms. Miranda, the warmest teacher who has a very handsome husband, whose pet phrase is “you guy~” I miss your class so much and thank you for each conversation we have made.  I love you, tricky monkey Ms. Ginny, “Ginny the science guy”, my favourite science teacher ever. I love you not only because of your sense of humour, but also because you care about and love every student so so so so so so much, you put a lot of your passion, patience and effort into your classes and make science become so interesting. We are your students and children forever. I love you, Mr. Bryan, you always can give us some positive energy. I love you, Grade 10 and Grade 11. Rather than friends, I think we are more like cousins. I will always support you and stand by your side. I love you, my lovely, ugly, clever, stupid, gorgeous, horrible Grade 12 brothers and sisters. You are my adopted family.  I love your perfect imperfection.

Most importantly, I love you, my family, thanks for all the support from my parents and my brother. I love you guys more than I can say. I wish you all the very best in the future and remember, “The more you read, the more you know.  The more you learn the more places you will go.”

  大道至简，大智若愚

受邀在毕业典礼上发表感言，我倍感荣幸。但我一开始对“commencement(毕业典礼)”没有什么概念，对它的理解跟著名的美国脱口秀节目主持人Ellen DeGeneres一样，将词拆分为“comment+cement”，意思就是“常见的+水泥”。我很疑惑，为什么是我的老师Ben要叫我做一篇关于“常见的水泥”的演讲，他明明是英语老师，怎么出了一个科学老师的题目。为了更好地理解这个单词，我上网搜索了一下，发现这个单词来源于法语“commencer”，译为“开始”。之后我感觉更加理不清头绪了，毕业不是应该意味着高中生活的结束吗？后来我再仔细斟酌，终于明白了，毕业虽然是高中生活的结束，却也是新生活的开始。此时此刻，我们拥有无限的可能，前方的大门已经为我们敞开，我们即将迎来新的征程。

还记得高二的时候，我们每天都待在学校学习到很晚，班级里的同学们相亲相爱如一家人，共同为数学科的文凭考试奋战着。出乎意料的是，最终所有人都获得了喜人的成绩。就像歌词里所唱的那样：“有付出的日子终有收获的时节，此刻我看到我们走向更加美好的未来”。在高二的时候，我们不仅在考试上有了很大的进步，我们还涉猎了很丰富的学术领域知识，如做演示、制作视频、户外收集昆虫和叶子等等。在不同的学习形式中，我们在学习上收益颇丰，同时也提高了创造力和想象力。

温馨提醒所有高三的毕业生，大学的生活可能比高中的要辛苦的多。高一高二的师弟师妹也别高兴的太早，因为我们吃过的苦也是你们必须面临的。未来，我们都会面临很多的选择，我们或许挣扎，或许迷茫，但我们只需要坚定地做自己，跟随自己的内心，不妨也像我一样将“务求简单，大智若愚”作为人生的座右铭。每个人都有自己的目标，中国著名综艺节目主持人何炅发表过关于坚持目标的一段话：“如果想要达成目标，你首先要付出，然后再坚持。如果你觉得这个过程太难了，那么你可以选择放弃，但是一旦放弃了就别再怨天尤人。生活就是这样，世界是公平的，每个人努力的程度决定了他自己的生活。“

最后，在520这个表达爱的日子里，我想说我爱你，加拿大国际学校，这个见证我三年成长历程，让我收获知识的大家庭。我爱你，所有曾经在加拿大国际学校工作过的教职员工（Mandy, Freya, Eric, Mr. Ben, Maggie, Ting, Meili, Miss Megan, Winona, Mr. Jonathan），是你们让我明白分别是为了更好的相聚。

我爱你，老顽童般的校长Ray，感谢你三年来对我们的支持。我爱你，校长Eli，我们毕业后也请你三餐记得按时吃，少抽点烟，保持身体健康才能长命百岁。我爱你，像母亲一样的Ivy，在我遇到任何困难的时候总能得到你的帮助。我爱你，美丽聪明的网红段子手Jennifer，你为我们的生活带来了很多乐趣，我也坚信你的未来定能如你所愿。我爱你，帅气的Ben，一个爱喝摩卡和百事的大哥哥，也是一个有着最时髦发型的型男。能成为你的学生，我感到十分荣幸。你把我们当成自己的弟弟妹妹，永远热情如火。我爱你，Blair老师，虽然我们经常爱跟你开玩笑，但我们内心对你的付出表示尊敬。我爱你，暖心的Miranda，经常把“you guys”挂在嘴边，我会想念你的课以及我们曾经聊过的话题。我爱你，搞怪的科学老师Ginny，我最爱的科学老师。你不仅幽默，而且对我们关怀备至，正是因为你的热情、耐心和努力，才让科学课变得如此妙趣横生，我们将永远是你的学生和孩子。我爱你，一直给予我们正能量的Bryan老师。我爱你们，高一高二的师弟师妹们，与其说我们的朋友，我倒认为我们更像是堂兄弟姐妹。我会一直支持你们，并且给予你们帮助。我爱你们，集可爱，丑陋，聪明，愚蠢，华丽，恐怖于一身的高三兄弟姐妹们，你们是我的家人，我爱你们不完美中的完美！

最重要的是，我爱你，我的家人。感谢来自于父母和哥哥的支持，对你们的爱无法仅用言语表达。我希望我们都有更好的未来，最后以一句话大家共勉：“你读的书越多，你懂的道理越多。你学得越多，你去的地方越多。”（注：原文及中文译文均有删减）