To: RMA Parents

5/18/2015

Some parents and grandparents asked this weekend if they could have a copy of my “hopes and challenges” for the seniors that I delivered at the parade on Saturday.  They were as follows:

According to author James Allen, “It is a corollary or maxim that one’s thoughts that revolve around ill-gained wealth, deceitful communication, promiscuity, and substance abuse of any kind are the precursors of failure.”  There are so many variables that affect our thinking, but I caution, none are more important than the company we keep and the people we admire and whose behavior and lifestyle we model.  With that as a backdrop and as my last counsel to you, I offer you the following wishes. 

I hope that you learn early that you have never failed until you quit.  In every battle or life’s challenge, there is a time when you sense you might lose or fail - the realization often comes in a minor form of panic, but you must overcome.

I hope you become frustrated and challenged enough to begin to push back the barriers of your perceived personal limitations.

I hope you will make a blatant mistake and be big enough to say the words: “I was wrong, I am responsible.”

I hope you will recognize the difference between opinions and convictions.  Opinions we toss around in casual conversation.  Convictions we fight for.

I hope that you will early-on work for demanding leaders who reward men and women who do what is expected and then some.

I hope for you a full measure of impatience for your own success.

I hope you understand that everything in life that is worthwhile is hard.  Achievements that come easy are rarely worth your time.

I hope that you feel the consequences of even the slightest breach in your integrity, because it is the consequences that ultimately define our character.

I hope that you develop self-awareness early on.  Display your strengths and hide your weaknesses as you work diligently to eliminate them.

I hope that you will associate with others who possess strong character and personal values.  Bring no one into your confidence who does not possess both.

I hope that when in doubt relative to critical decisions, you will trust your instincts, decide, move on, and never look back.

I wish for you the worst kind of criticism, because it is criticism that pushes us to stretch for greater achievements.

I wish for you the strongest faith in our God and that his will shall be done in your lives.

And, after all of the above I wish you unqualified success as you pass through these doors today.

In closing and in the words of a great Southeastern Conference coach and friend – men like you are our nation’s future.  “You can, you will, you must succeed.”

God bless and Semper Fidelis