Good morning Elder and Sister Palmer, President and Sister Worthen, university administration,
faculty, honored guests, and of course, the reason we're here today, our amazing graduates. My fellow
graduates we made it. Our college experience looked unlike anything we could have expected.
If you did expect it, I would love to speak to you after about your prophetic skills.
Our budgets previously allocated to nice school clothes and aloha plate quickly
shifted to be spent on impressive pajama collections and doordash hidden fees.
We are all still thinking of at least one person who looks
completely different without their mask. Are they actually the same person? And most importantly
we are all excited watching our futures open as the world opens back up. There has been a constant
thread throughout this frayed time however. It's the reminder that we cannot do it alone.
Spiritual teacher Rahm Das shared a beautiful phrase, “we are all just walking each other home."
We've been through a long night. It started with untapped opportunity, excitement,
and some anxiety. There were beautiful moments, there were tragic ones. Sometimes we skipped down
the sidewalk of our homes and other times we sat on the curb unsure of where our home truly was.
Along the path we walk with some people who have been walking with us since the
very beginning. Some have come and gone and other lucky people may have found a permanent add-on.
Now as a true Southern Californian, walking in the snow is a beautiful but dangerous endeavor.
On Martin Luther King Jr Day my freshman year, I signed up for a BYU service project
just like the ones that many BYU students organize and participate in. It had snowed previously so I
bundled up and ventured out to walk to campus. In just the few sidewalk squares it took to get to
the crosswalk, I slipped, I spun, I lurched, and I crawled on hands and scraped knees back to my
apartment door. My dignity was far more important than any service I was to render that day.
Sometimes our walks home look a little bit like this, a little clumsy, embarrassing, and you want
to quit. Don't be me though. What I didn't see was my friend across the street hunched over laughing
but making her way over to me. She wanted to teach me how to skate. As we go forward into employment,
graduate school, or another adventure, know there will be moments when we slip, find the people who
will hold you up and teach you how to glide. For me it was my research mentor Dr. Julianne
Gross. Some days my roommates, other times my mom daily in five-minute phone calls between classes.
Maybe your people are sitting next to you right now or maybe they're still out there,
but know that they are out there waiting to walk you home. Like many of you, college quickly became
a balancing act with employment. As a pre-medical student, I sought a job in the operating room to
get a first-hand look into the medical field. One freezing December morning I was called in at 4 am
to sit with a patient. Grumbling, I dragged myself out of my warm bed, scraped the ice off my car,
wound my icicle self through the icy streets to the operating room with a post-it note telling me
where to collect the patient from. I headed up the stairs. The first thing he asked me, “How are you
today." The man had been riding his bike home when a horrific event left him fighting for his life.
He enthusiastically exclaimed I hope you're having a great day. His legs were immobilized.
Months later before his seventh surgery, “Emily, I remember you. Are you doing okay today?"
He knew our names. We loved the sound of his voice. His positivity was as infectious
as the diseases we were fighting daily. He went through surgery after surgery to regain function
of his legs, and through it all he was walking everyone in that hospital home. Like that man,
we too can find ways to mentor others and brighten their day no matter our circumstances. Ultimately
if we ever feel like our sidewalk is empty, we must remember that some of our walking companions
are celestial. I often think about Jesus in Gethsemane perfectly knowing the plan
but suffering in such great agony that he asks his father to remove this cup. That could not be done,
so his father sent an angel to strengthen him and provide him comfort in his moment of great need.
I'm sure we've all had moments like this over our college careers. Sometimes they're silly.
The temporary panic at 11:55 pm with only four minutes left to finish an assignment
or thinking our time has come when we are halfway up the RB stairs with three more flights to go.
Other moments sat with us for longer. The dread of opening the testing center tab on the Y app after
a test or having to completely rethink the path you are taking in life. We are never trudging the
sidewalk alone, though. God will send angels and also God will send us because here is a reality.
We are not on our own sidewalks meandering to an unknown destination. We are on the same sidewalk.
We're headed to the same place, and it's not a race. So if you're crawling through an icy patch
don't be afraid to cling to the ones gliding until you can get your footing back,
and if you find yourself skipping please look for someone sitting on the curb. Because
they just might be the person coming around the corner when you are on the curb next. Graduates,
congratulations on how far you have come, and good luck on the next stretch. Thank you.