Brad Paisley: Message to the Class of 2020 (Audio)
Paisley offers some words of encouragement to the graduating class of 2020.
Alright, Brad Paisley here. I’ve been thinking a lot about the class of 2020. And, this can’t be easy. It’s not fair. You’ve been robbed. I know you feel that. You should of had the opportunity to walk across that stage and throw that cap in the air. You take the pictures in your backyard with your entire family from all over America flying in to see you graduate in this accomplishment in this time in your life that’s so full of promise. Well, the fact that you’ve been robbed of this moment doesn’t change anything about your potential and your future. If anything, it should give you some sort of inspiration in terms of what you want to do going forward. I challenge the class of 2020 to take all of this frustration and turn it into something good. Become doctors, scientists, nurses, first responders, leaders… People who do a better job than we have done with this. You can change the world and that doesn’t just change because you didn’t get to walk across that stage and shake hands with your principal or throw that cap in the air. You are the future of this country and we’re hoping that you will rise up and make it an even better place.
There would be a lot of “Letter to Me” in there, with some amendments to this new reality. I’ve often said high school is not the best years of your life, no matter what anybody says. They get told that a lot. Some adults say that, and it’s dumb. It’s like if high school are the best years of your life I pity you, because you missed out on some amazing stuff if that’s the case. You shouldn’t peak. You shouldn’t be the guy in the John Hughes movie that’s got it all in high school and then becomes a jerk. You don’t want to be that. You want to be the guy that struggles through high school, or the girl that struggles through high school, finds the right person, settles down, kids are wonderful. That’s the goal. Get through, you survive high school, then you have a ball after that. I would tell kids now, the things you’re going to miss out on, I get it, it’s tough, missing out on prom and a traditional graduation, and the celebration that your family shares with you for accomplishing what is no small feat, which is actually passing your classes and walking across the stage and getting a diploma. You have been robbed of that, and you can be mad at that, but just make sure that what you do with your life maybe has some effect on making this world better. People who take adversity like this, and become the agents of change that keep this from happening again, are maybe the answer. That’s going to be on this generation to do a better job than we’ve done. So maybe they will. I think you’re going to have kids decide to be nurses, scientists, vaccine developers, pharmacists, and there’s a calling. I already know kids that are like, “I’d love to be able to figure this out myself,” my sons have that discussion. How does a person become the person that fixes this? First of all, they’ve probably got to be smarter than you are son, but truly it’s inspiration. Use this as inspiration is what I would tell this class.