No Time

written for the 8th grade class and their reputations in their last quarter of middle school

Beginning of a new quarter, the last
No time to think of accomplishments past
The next nine weeks loom exciting; titanic
Rushing to graduate; frantic, manic.

Have you done everything you can
To prepare for what Upper School demands?
Are you ready to take a giant leap forward?
Or baby steps, for some, to help move you toward

the proving ground ‘tween kid and adult
filled with uncertainty, elation, and tumult?
For most, you’ve studied and played and prepared
You’re just waiting…excited, not scared.

Academics have taken care of themselves
Your trophies shine brightly on polished shelves
Only these last few weeks – a seemingly small task.
How will you spend them? What’s left, you ask?
The calendar will tell you Middle School is near done
Soccer, track, D.C., musical, summer fun.
Linear time from now until then
Broken by memories made with your friends.

Are grades and athletics the measure alone
By which a class is remembered; fondly known?
I submit to you, in these last waning days
What a class Creates – the message it conveys –

Says more, speaks louder, overtly confessed
Than any basket, or project, or tackle, or test.
How a class treats each other, I think you will find
Makes a mark on the classes they must leave behind.

How do you WANT to be remembered? Your choice.
Your actions? Your canvas. Your reputation? Your voice.
Years from now as we all look back –
and we will – will we grimmace or pine?
How will we remember the class of Oh Nine?
Oh, they were Awesome! Or, Oh, they were fine.
Oh, their respect for each other was a sight to behold. Or
They were petty and self-centered, vindictive and cold?
They looked out for one another, even peers they didn’t like.
Or they jabbed each other cruelly with sharp, trivial spikes.

They treated each other with the worst social graces,
Or…they realized that going together meant going places.
They had the opportunity and they soundly blew it,
Or they seized the opportunity and together got through it.

Lest, you think everything is about you,
I’m talking to the class of 2010, too.
You’ll be in this position in just one…short…year.
Famous or infamous? The path is quite clear.

Together you’re stronger than the sum of your parts,
A class is remembered for more than its smarts.
Will you be remembered as a class that stood
Apart for themselves or together for good?

Let me finish with this, to each student in this hall
I’m not preaching cliché, “All for one, one for all”.
You don’t have to like everyone to all get along,
But R-E-S-P-E-C-T is not just a song.

When we respect each other, our failures and success,
People older than you (and wiser) will confess
Our memories, Your memories, will be far more pleasant.
With only nine weeks remaining, no time like the present.

© Jeff Wilson, 2009