According to the laws of probability, I cannot go back and retrace the exact steps I just made from my chair to here. Each of our lives decides that short walk. We can never go back and walk through a portion of our lives again. For once we have gone that way, that path is closed to us forever, and we can never walk that way again.
      With the idea of being able to live a portion of our lives as one, we should look back at the unchangeable events from our lives, or look to the present at the things they're doing now and see how important it is that we take advantage of now and correct it. Looking into the past, we can see a chance to benefit each of us individually and the events that affect all of us.
      For instance, attending school for the first time, or going through grade school, through junior high, and, finally, through high school, until today, the day of our graduation. We will remember the important, choice occasions that we would like to relive, the sadder events we are glad that will never reoccur, and other events we cannot go back and change.
      But whether the memories are good or bad, they are only memories. The actual events are gone forever, a segment of our lives that can never be relived. Let us only hope that we have lived past these events that are possible onto the path of the present.
      So you see we would be taking advantage of living now correctly in this manner:

I expect to pass through this life but once.
And if there is any kindness or any good
that I can do for my fellow beings,
let me do it now, for I shall pass this way but once.

  Regrettably, the conclusion of Judy's speech was lost.  

      Today, we stand as a class on the boundary line of unity and the future. Tomorrow, we face the world of which we know so little. The individualism for which we searched will be ours for keeps; it will not change with our moods or the suggestions of others. We now must lead ourselves, for no longer will we be able to depend on those who have led us so well. They will go their ways, as we will go ours. In the eyes of those yet to come, we will remain as one, as did those who came before us; but for us, we stand one last time as a whole, looking back on the days to come no more, and then we each shall turn and face the future undaunted.
      You have life before you. Only once can you live it. So take into your new sphere of labor that simple charm of love, and your life must succeed. You can take nothing greater, you need take nothing less. You may take every accomplishment and be braced for every sacrifice and have not love, and you will not profit. If within your heart, you have love, then you will be deeply aware of Christ's presence, promises, and power. You will not only be known to Him, but also valued by Him. He knows us as individuals and is aware of what graduation means to each of us.
      The Bible records these famous words: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Now, at graduation is the "time and season" for deciding which direction your life will take and how you will prepare for what looms ahead. Your life is God's gift to you; what you do with it is your gift to God.
      Lose no chance of giving pleasure. For that is the ceaseless and anonymous triumph of a loving spirit. "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall never pass this way again."

      Several people have asked me what I was going to talk about tonight and when I told them that I had to talk on our class flower, the mixed bouquet, they would ask, “What can you say about a flower? It’s pretty; it smells nice.” Then I would say, “That’s right.” And until I sat down this afternoon to write this speech, I really didn’t know what I was going to say. But I’ve thought it over and decided to just tell you what the hidden meaning and the significance of the mixed bouquet are to me.
      Like I have said, the flower part is relatively unimportant. I would be just as happy talking about a tossed salad. Because the key word or the key thought is the “mixed” part. It represents, to me, what our lives will be from here on. Our lives will be a mixture of people, a mixture of relationships, and a mixture of problems and pressures. There will always be something different and something new coming at us and we will have to learn to cope with each one of them.
      One of these things, as I have said, is people. Right now everyone here is a Goblin. But the people we’ll be working with next year or be going to school with next year aren’t going to be Goblins. When we walk out of those doors tonight and on into our new lives, we’re going to be exposed to tigers, bears, bulldogs, and maybe a whirlwind or two. Moreover, we’ll be in contact with blacks, yellows, and reds (both kinds of reds). And we’re going to have to learn to get along with them. Take those flowers over there for example. I have yet to see a daffodil blackmail an iris. It sounds kind of silly, but is it really? It makes me wonder who is intelligent and who isn’t. We, with our many years of formal education, go out and cheat and kill our brothers while the flowers live peacefully together. But the mixture will be more than just a mixture of species or a mixture of races. It will be a combination of social, religious and political classes. The Democrats will have to learn how to get along with the Republicans. The Catholics will have to learn how to get along with the Protestants. The businessmen are going to have to learn to get along with the farmers (I’m doing my share on that one). And the heads are going to have to learn to get along with the reds. We haven’t done a very good job so far.
      Our lives will also be a mixture. We should have varied interests, hobbies, and desires. One shouldn’t just study and work through his entire life. But neither should one just party and play. A person should do a little of everything for a well-rounded life. Do something a little crazy now and then. Don’t worry about the people who laugh. People who don’t enjoy life and who don’t have a purpose or goal to strive for, are no better than stones. Stones only exist; they don’t live.
      When the Class of ‘73 voted to have the mixed bouquet as our class flower, I thought that all it proved was that our class couldn’t unify and decide on one flower. But the more I thought about the mixed bouquet, the more I realized just what it really means. I’ve told you what I think about it. Just think about it yourself and try it.

      Robert H. Goddard, an American physicist born in 1882, dreamed of developing a liquid-fuel rocket. In 1926, his first liquid-fuel rocket reached a height of one hundred eighty-four feet. His dream had come to pass, but he was not satisfied. The challenge to build a rocket that would reach higher altitudes then became his dream. Through his determination, by 1935, less than ten years later, he fired a rocket that reached seventy-five hundred feet.
      Until his death in 1945, Goddard dreamed of conquering the vastness of space. He had done his share; it was now left up to someone else. After many years of dreaming, in 1961, the first man was put into space. This was still a long way from space travel, but it was another step in that direction.
      When we entered school over a decade ago, we dreamed of graduation day. Through the encouragement of our parents and teachers, we have reached that day. Dreams, ideas, and ideals are useless and wasteful if they are not translated into effective action. Our dreams have become reality only because they have been vitalized by our drive and dedication.
      Because of man's dreams, the world is constantly changing. When we were born, the first satellite had not yet been put into orbit. A nuclear submarine, a push-button telephone, and an electronic calculator were non-existent. Not only do these things exist now, but through the dreams of the American people, man has left his mother planet and traveled to the Moon and back. Man has dreamed of a space station for years. If the launch goes as scheduled in the morning, Skylab will be a dream come true.
      As we dream of tomorrow, we must not forget our responsibilities of today. We are a new generation of Americans. In a few minutes when we are handed our diplomas, we will be making a great step toward our future. We, the youth of today, will be the leaders of tomorrow, and the survival and success of liberty will depend on what we do.
      "Today is the tomorrow that we dreamed of yesterday." Today we are seeing our dreams turn to reality as we graduate from high school. This is the Commencement -- the beginning -- the Beginning of new dreams -- Dreams of the future.
      The future can be a million years from now or a minute from now. No one knows what the future holds. We can only dream of tomorrow. But we MUST dream and set goals for ourselves. For what great thing has ever been accomplished that was not first a dream?
      We have no assurance that we can do something tomorrow. We must begin today. We cannot wait until tomorrow to begin planning. We must take advantage of today.
      A dream is something that begins with the individual. One man with a dream developed a rocket. A whole nation with a dream has landed a man on the Moon. We hope the world will be better because the Seniors of 1973 have lived. It is up to us.

      For Yesterday is but a Memory,
      And Tomorrow is only a Dream;
      But Today well-lived makes every
            Yesterday a Memory of Happiness,
      And every Tomorrow a Dream of Hope.