I stood there listening to the silence of several hundred people. I couldn't even hear a baby crying in the crowd. Amazing! The only thing I heard was the sound of my own thoughts saying, "Wow, it is unusually quiet."
Several hundred people sat there listening to my silence. God must have struck my tongue with a mute spirit. It gripped me long enough for my fellow salutatorian Steven Kennedy to knudge me in the side wispering, "Look at the paper." At first, I thought, "No, it will come to me." I was halfway through! I didn't panic. Nor did I feel embarrassed...
Now, traditionally, the salutatory of our graduation ceremony included a prayer in the opening address. My teacher, however, said I was permitted to say something else. I'm sure many people were disappointed, even offended that I did not pray, but I was agnostic at the time. I composed something more appropriate for my conscience and more politically correct for the secular occassion.
One or two short paragraphs, that's all. People had warned me about trying to do it from memory, but I was confident I could do it. I had memorized and recited the whole thing several times in my head before our march into the stadium. I don't remember being particularly nervous either. Short, sweet, simple! But it never came to me.
"Look at the paper". The persistent incantation of my friend Steven was finally effective. I looked down to my paper to finish the salutation.
Posted by Eric Pyle at May 5, 2004 10:15 AM