I was born a few short months after my family moved to Augusta, Georgia where I spent the first eighteen years of my life. In fact, until I moved away, I never spent more than four consecutive weeks away from my home state. And throughout those eighteen years, starting at a very young age as my close friends and family will attest, I had a dream… an unquenchable desire to attend the absolute BEST college in the land. My dream - and my folks will love this - was to grow up and attend the University... of Alabama. But as I am sure you will agree… and as is true with most of our life journeys from a very young age until the time arrived for us to choose a college… I started to learn to make informed, smart decisions. I became more intelligent… MUCH more intelligent, I became more mature… I BECAME a Georgia Bulldog.
If choosing to attend the University of Georgia was an unpopular decision, choosing to join a fraternity was even more so. I don’t think I can recall one single person close to me at the time who approved of or supported that decision. I have absolutely zero regrets. Through my involvement, I had the unique opportunity to experience triumphs and failures I may have never had otherwise with dear friends I may have never met.. I claimed you as my little brother the first day you set foot in the house as a pledge, having no clue the challenges you endured or the type of man you’d become. To this day, I still don’t know if you were just using me for my status as an Arch Society member, though! We both pledged when we were sophomores... we both came in with a track record of action... and we both came in with a hunger to leave legacies. I wish I could sit here and claim you as my legacy at UGA, but that would greatly discredit all of your amazing accomplishments. Most students would kill to have the near impossible task of cutting three pages worth of amazing activities to just one on a resume. How many times did I try using my best sales skills trying to convince you to focus on less during your senior year? Did you listen?... eh, sometimes. Look where it all landed you - scoring a position in your dream company. Do you think your affinity for bow ties is a coincidence? Not anymore!
I still wish you’d stop for a minute to finally take stock of everything you did during your four years in Athens. Many of these successes we shared together... you just happened to do some of them better. I was inducted as an Arch Society member as a rising senior... you were selected as a rising junior. Arch Society Tom Cochran Service Award?... you claimed it exactly one year after I did. Academic Certificate in Personal and Organizational Leadership? Yup, we did that too. Same goes for representing UGA at the National Collegiate Sales Competition. I could go on about your other feats, but I won’t for fear of them making me feel like a chump. Yes, we shared in each other's successes. Perhaps more importantly, we were there to share in each other's failures as well. We had the amazing opportunity to spend time at one of the top institutions in the country, both of us without having to pay for tuition thanks to the HOPE Scholarship. Our Alma Mater made a deep and sincere investment into both of us. Beyond that, you endured trials I will never understand, and you learned to lean on others for support... you also learned to stand for yourself. The results of that investment were made evident the minute you were accepted to UGA... and the moment you turned your tassel this weekend and walked through the Arch for the first time. I think we were both robbed when we were not chosen to be the student commencement speaker. So, I’m including a little of what would have been yours below, because your life is an amazing story of accomplishment and overcoming what you point to below as very long odds.
“Since our University’s charter was signed 225 years ago making us the first state chartered university in the United States, the Bulldog Nation continues to pay it forward.I also have a secret to share with you. I’m a living example of what happens when you pay it forward. You see, I grew up in the foster care system starting at the age of 7. I moved to more than 10 different homes throughout the State of Georgia. Statistics show that only 6% of foster children who graduate high school will actually go to college… less than 1% who go will ever graduate. Fellow graduates and guests, I’m forever in debt to you. Without the humble service from people just like you, I wouldn’t be speaking before you today, nor would I have had the unique opportunity to experience triumphs and failures I may have never had otherwise with dear friends I may have never met. I’m here because one person stood up for me when I couldn’t stand.
Without your constant love and support, many of us may not be present here today. We have seen how just one person’s generosity can forever alter the life of another. I challenge each of us to never lose that drive to stand for those in need.
As we leave the stadium today to go and author the story of our generation… I encourage each of you to remember just one thing about the Bulldog Nation:
It’s our memories that set us a part, but it’s our service that holds up together… Never underestimate the power that your service can have on someone else’s life.”
Continue making the absolute best of it, Mason. As Doc Childre once wrote, "It is no longer enough to be smart – all the technological tools in the world add meaning and value only if they enhance our core values, the deepest part of our heart. Acquiring knowledge is no guarantee of practical, useful application. Wisdom implies a mature integration of appropriate knowledge, a seasoned ability to filter the inessential from the essential." Be wise. What in your time here have you found to be essential? What develops your core values? Cling to them. John Paul II also stated, "Freedom consists not in doing what we want, but in having the right to do what we ought." What I have found to be essential is the need to positively influence this world I live in according to the gifts I have been given. It is clear you will do the same. Ambitious, driven, undaunted, caring. You encompass them all, bud. I am excited for you and for the world you now enter. I pray you hang on to your zeal and enthusiasm. I know that if you do, you might actually be able to make some changes. You were already chosen as one of a very select few foster youth in the entire country to help draft legislation in Washington. How amazing is that? Be proud. As my dad told me, humility is not thinking less of yourself.. it’s thinking of yourself less. Be humble as well. Lead in the same way you wore the Black Blazer - with pride and humility.
Mason, you amaze me and everyone you surround yourself with. Thank you for letting me support you and always being there to support me. Thank you for allowing us to view the world through your lenses. These little acts of love represent just a few of the things you accomplished as a UGA student. Know they have influenced me in a BIG way. Today I applaud you for never being afraid – never being satisfied with mediocrity. You continuously represented our university well, your inspiration is contagious, and I hope your efforts continue long after you leave.
I’ll leave you with two quotes to always bear in mind as you move to this next step in your life. Our paths crossed three years ago. Three years later... you’re my brother and my best friend. To you... Thank you so much. I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. Let's do BIG things, because admittedly... we are kind of a big deal. “From your very beginnings, even before He formed you in the womb, God has taken a great interest in you. He has been gracing your heart, your soul, and your whole self.”
"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough. Give the world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it's all between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
