Why as adolescents are we always in a hurry to grow up but as adults want to turn back time?

As a society we have grown to live our lives for tomorrow, when what we ought to be doing is living for today. For only today is sure, concrete and constant.

As high school students we strive to push forward, to move on to the “real world,” but in reality we should be valuing the four years in our life that define us.

In high school we experience no real failures, aside from perhaps the failure of a class or the loss of a job. We are, however, becoming the people we will be for the rest of our lives.

Adolescence comes hand in hand with responsibility and independence. As teenagers we are opened to a whole new world beyond the backyard and movie theater.  The completion of our high school career (and subsequently our introduction to the adult world) represents not just years of hard work, but the memories created in these years.

Though we will remember these four years for the rest of our lives, we as a society need to learn to live for today. It is imperative to learn to appreciate every second, rather than wish for the next novel experience.

We are not invincible. We are not unbreakable.

That, in fact, is a constant in our lives—that they all eventually must end. So why should we be wishing for years to fly by when we only have so many to live?

As we look at the some 300 graduates that will be stepping forth to a new world, look not with envy, but rather appreciation.

Time is a precious thing, and we still have the power that its possession offers. We have a whole lifetime ahead of us. So stop wishing away the moments.

And as you watch the class of 2008 move on to life after high school, decide to experience life without the desire for time to pass.

For only today is sure, concrete and constant, and tomorrow is no guarantee.

It’s time to live our lives for the present.

-Sarah Schraer, Assistant Editor