You are taking your place among over one hundred other classes that have graduated from our high school.
You have and will continue to have astute advice given to you by very wise people, much smarter than I. Please pay attention to what they tell you.
I can only give you the story of the last two things I learned as a student at Durango High School. These two lessons have served me very well for over 50 years and I hope that in someway they can be of use to you:
My commencement; sitting in the red graduation robe and flat cap thinking, “Which way do I turn the tassel?” and considering a classmate who, regardless of the situation, was always just...happy.
On that morning, at that moment, the lesson struck me: That someone my age could be that composed yet full of life.
Then came a part of the valedictory speech:”We live in times where everything is not black and white, but there are shades of grey.” Years later I told him how significant that speech was to me; he had never known.
Sadly, never thanked the other fellow. He was killed at a young age.
Oh, and one other thing: You can leave Durango, and do this and make that and sign this and that, but Durango never really leaves you. And that’s a blessing.
PS: The tassel goes on the right before you graduate. Then it belongs on your left side, your heart’s side.
David Watkins (DHS ‘66)
Redington Shores, Fla.
