By the time you realize how true it is that the world is yours,

all the authority figures you once knew, will have retired.

So in teenage days, just as teachers are brainlessly trying to convince everyone,

that we are not good enough because we don't listen, or because we are failing their questionable curriculum.

We actually need to take a step back,

and find a way to learn for real.

Because even if, we don't waste, a single day,

real life will do a pretty good job at overwhelming us anyway.

You need to be learning hard,

with your friends.

You need to be learning,

from Lectures, Documentaries, Audio Books, Maker Shops and Hacker Spaces.

You need to be learning how to build real businesses,

that have a long lasting impact on your community, and maybe the world.

For those of us who aren't going into cozy Science or Medicine,

we need to come out of High School fists up, fighting, and swinging and kicking.

Because it is not college that should follow High School,

college is something you do for entertainment.

Taking late classes to unwind,

and sharpen your memorization and concept mapping skills.

After High School, you need to put an A-Team together, bitchy parents included,

and cross the Appalachian Trail, and keep in mind, that you may become a regular hiker.

After High School,

your first and only aim, is to find a reasonable path to Greatness.

Do you hear me,

My Friends?

Greatness... because everywhere else,

somehow, unforgivably, may just lead right back to the start.

You just don't know what it is going to be like when you return,

but you will be part mountain goat, part wild person that comfortably sh*ts in the woods.

And what is more, my friends, you will know, that should life ever challenge you,

you will be able to handle it, with Heart and Soul, with Wisdom, Humor and Grace.

There is not a moment to waste, there is not a day to pass,

make everyone of them count, and then help others to their own paths.

Remind your younger generation,

that they are not to lead sleepy lives of mild discontent.

You are the future, you are wisdom that the world needs to survive,

you are the leaders that are all the Hopes and Dreams of the past generations,

and your rightful stance in life, is that of a Great Being, and nothing less.