The Story of James Robinson

Archive for April, 2012

With the exception of “being the cause of something horrific”….

I just would like to be, …. remembered, …. Fondly!

James in San Diego

Since I am not religious, my only logical answer is:

When you wake up in the morning – Breath!, That’s Gods grace.
When you see loved ones – Enjoy that sight, That’s Gods grace.
When you hear a sound you love – Listen!, That’s Gods grace.
When you get home, too tired to move – Relax!, That’s Gods grace.
When you see a picture or hear a story of great suffering – Cry!, That’s Gods grace.
When you read a headline of a known person falling from their own pedestal – Chuckle!, That’s Gods grace.
And
When you can’t figure out why some in the world have so much, yet you have so little; when you don’t know why the rich get richer, yet you seem to struggle week after week; when all of your friends are married and have kids and you are single and alone, Remember, This TOO is God’s grace!

He remembers all of us in his actions, some of us are just stronger than others and can handle adversity better than the rest. He will always answer our prayers – We just forget that sometimes – the answer is, No!

I hope I helped,

James in San Diego

James’ Proposed High School Commencement Speech –

“Many times I can remember my family sitting around a pile of old pictures; sifting through the memorabilia, looking at all of the different photographs; grand-pop, sis’s first birthday party, Halloween when I was five.  And we would always find unusual and very funny pictures like my oldest brother in a football uniform – three sizes too big; my sister attempting to twirl a baton; one of me in a fire truck and another behind the wheel of a car at age nine, and I never realized until later years that these were not just photographs but dreams, dreams that would determine the sheer destiny of our future.

As young children we all wanted to be just like an adult – do adult things – drive, go to work, be responsible, and through growing up we may have singled out one adult who we idolized, whether it be a movie star, sports hero or even our own parents.  Through the continuing years our idol may have changed but we never stopped dreaming.  We may have changed our dreams but they will always remain a part of us.  Through life we find that we are forced to beckon to these dreams in many different degrees; whether it be in escaping inside of them when we are troubled by reality or in striving to make our dreams reality.

In dealing with reality we are then confronted with our mounting responsibility to these dreams and to ourselves.  RESPONSIBILITY – That’s the word you hear a lot around school; remember?  ‘Aw Miss Harper, I’m very sorry that I didn’t do that report in English but that was Super bowl weekend and if you ever knew the beauty of a Fran Tarkenton pass well – you’d understand.’ Or ‘Mr. Dixon, I’m sorry I didn’t do that work in Science class but I had a Science report and a History report due on the same day and since I am doing ‘A’ work in Science and ‘C’ work in history, I decided to do my history paper.’  And then Mr. Dixon would say that was no excuse, which we would answer with ‘ Well my dad does it all the time at the end of the month.  When bill paying time rolls around I hear him asking my mom who will wait a month to receive payment.  And then Mr. Dixon or Miss Harper would say something like well where are your priorities?  Where is your sense of responsibility?

Well what is responsibility?  Webster’s Dictionary defines it as the state of being able to discriminate between right or wrong.  – Ok.  Well then if we know it’s right to be in the house at ten o’clock on school nights and twelve o’ clock on the weekends and if we know that it is wrong to crack little brother Bobby up the side of the head because he won’t listen to use, then we have attained responsibility.  Right?  Hold it, something’s missing – somehow that doesn’t seem right.

William Butler Yeats once said ‘In Dreams Begins Responsibility,’ no explanation, just that line.  I get the dream part and I get the responsibility part but it’s fitting the two of them together that’s the hard part.  What do dreams have to do with responsibility?  Well, I started my quest and finally dug up a professor at U.C.L.A. who explained that line to me.  He stated that as soon as you are old enough to realize what your dreams are you start to act on them.  These actions then become a part of you which you are responsible for, hence you are not only responsible for your actions but for the dreams which cause these actions.  He then stated that it is our responsibility in making our dreams reality, in realizing what our dreams are and then acting on these dreams.  Dreams are something that no one can ever take away from us.  They are our way of coping with reality.  Reality is something which confronts us every day but our dreams are a way of changing this reality.  If you are not satisfied with your life, then work hard to try to change it!

As I look back on these past three years, I know there are many people I’ll miss, but I think we’re all ready to move on.  We worked hard for our graduation because it was just one of our dreams which we wanted to come true.  We did it!  We’ve all enjoyed Lakewood High School.  It was our first real exposure to adult society and all it entails.

I’m ready to go out and work at making my dreams reality and all my wishes come true – I hope you are too.  I hope we’ll all strive for the future we want – we won’t let things happen – we’ll make thing happen!  If we were to do anything less we would be cheating ourselves.  Let’s go tell the world to step aside and let us through for we are the class of 1979.  We’ve had good times and I hate to see them end.  I guess there must be an end to all the things we love.  So to sunny days and starry nights, football games and candlelight.  Although it seems we walk so far and so often all alone, through each day, through each year, through one’s life, dreams will not fade but remain a part of us until we make them our reality.  We may be sad upon leaving this place and even wish we could stay, since we’ve met so many people it’s hard to say goodbye.  We must still remember that there’s so much beauty awaiting us and goals for which we’ll strive.  To make our dreams reality, to make our wishes come true.  Now it is time to start again, to work, to struggle, to fight for all our dreams, for it is this which we all love.

Thank you.”