Fireworks.

Even though you cannot see them yet, the fireworks will begin tonight. In bright stunning colors, they will paint over the black world around them and they will glow. In all shapes and sizes they will scatter over the stars and the moon. They will erupt in loud, almost deafening blasts to hushed crackles of soundless glory. Each diploma received is a lighted match of fire. Each graduate is a fuse. If you put a lighted match and a fuse together, you make sparks to create light. If you put a diploma and a graduate together, you have fireworks.

As I look down into the mass crowd of parents, guardians, relatives, friends, teachers, and other members of Southern Columbia’s school community, I can only focus on my fellow graduating classmates. This particular section is beginning to illuminate. It is giving off a subtle glow of many colors as if it is ready to explode into blinding lights. The dull colors seen now are only the stored energy ready to explode. The TNT is the knowledge that each graduate has acquired at Southern Columbia. It is the basic factor in beginning to light their personal firework. Once every graduate has a diploma in their hands, the whole world will be painted with their cascading colors. These colors will reflect upon the eyes of many people watching them erupt.

Bright hues will light up as every graduate paints the world with their own color. I caution everyone in the audience to put on their sunglasses, because I feel the future will be so bright for my fellow classmates and myself that we will all have to wear shades.

Some people say they remember the enormous fireworks that stretch out for what looks like miles in the sky. Other people say they remember the fireworks that are small and pop so quickly that they leave an impression in your mind so that you will not forget them. From the largest firework to the smallest firework, all of them create the show. Both of these diversely sized accomplishments are what make the world complete. If the world were filled with large accomplishments, what would build the climax to get ready for such awe-inspiring displays? If the world were filled with small accomplishments, what would make the grand finale so grand? Just like a fireworks display, every graduate has the potential to create a large canvas of achievements or a small canvas of achievements. Every success has just as much importance as the next. If you have ever closed your eyes for one second during a fireworks display, you can hear and feel the energy they possess. Fireworks can give off loud bursts as well as crackles and fizzles that are more appreciated by the ear. The human heart can also feel the explosion of the firework, for it tenses and almost seemingly stops beating for a millisecond. The big booms make people jump and feel the full affect of the explosion. The quieter rumbles still give off noise so they are not completely overshadowed. Just like the size of the explosion, the noise it gives off leaves impressions as well. Every graduate will hopefully accomplish something in their life, no matter how big or how small, that will either be significantly noticed and felt in a large boom, or be casually noticed but still heard in a crackle. They might not both receive the same recognition, but both will entitle each other to create a magnificent display that can be felt, heard, and seen for all that it is worth.

So is everyone ready for the fireworks? We are all now aware of the sights we can see and the noises we will hear in the future that will be caused by placing a diploma in a graduate’s hand. But wait, who will help set these fireworks off? Who provided the energy, the lighted match, and the fuse? Who provided the knowledge, the diploma, and the graduates of 2004 to be ignited into colors of success for the rest of the world to see? Who are the technicians that spent years preparing for the launching of such bright pieces of art? On the ground in the dark shadows, hiding behind the beginning light and preparing it for its launch, a firework technician aligns the firecracker and provides it with the necessities to detonate into a glorious exhibit of human achievement. In our lives, we have seen those technicians preparing us for presentation. These technicians are our parents, guardians, relatives, teachers, coaches, fans, friends, and other members of our school community that helped us to build our TNT to create superior and more outstanding displays of achievements. These people are there to assist in lighting the matches just as we are ready to be lit into the atmosphere. I advise all of the graduates to take some personal time before we commence into this world, and individually thank these important people for caring about our future.

You cannot look at the firecrackers ready to be set off and perfectly imagine their shape and size. You can only hope that they will ignite into a display of colors and inspiration in all sizes instead of malfunctioning. As graduates, we do not know who we are until we see what we can do. Class of 2004, no matter how bright your colors glow, how large your display is, or how loud your boom is, all of us are important in providing the rest of the world with such a memorable fireworks display that will leave our spectators speechless. As a whole, we have achieved so much over the many years, and we will keep on achieving in life even after we have left each other’s physical presence. As we move on with our lives, we will always meet in memories and in the sky as we display our individual colors and patterns over the world.

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