More than Enough

More than Enough
For the Blue Ridge Class of 2017

From me to you now once more
For one last time, since I go my way,
And you each now reach your end here,
So before you head toward a beach
To take a break and eat a peach
A few last questions I do beseech
Us each to consider:
Did our actions match our speech?
Did our programs truly preach?
And in so doing teach you each to really reach?
Like we said we would?
As we say we do?
For you stand now unto the breach,
And once more we send you in, dear friends,
For what you’ve known ends, it’s true,
But this day so much more begins
And more alone pays dividends.
When peace is dropping sweetly slow
Will you be modest and still,
And then when the blast of battle blows
Will you be able to summon the tiger, until
It ends, for the game’s afoot, and
Victory must now come from inside you.
We ask ourselves what did we put there?
Was it enough?
What would have been enough?
Should we have done more?
Could we have done more?

The answer of course is no
Because if we were ever to explore
The truth behind the numbered score
Everything that’s actually you or your
Was inside you well before
You entered through our classroom door,
Head on desk and feet on floor
Bored enough to start to snore.
Even if more was called for,
Or more was looked for,
Or asked for,
Or sent for,
More was ever done for
Just another lie we fell for
As we sought to ignore
The truth we abhor about potential:
That the job of a mentor
Is to withdraw and not deposit
To find and not fill
To distill rather than instill
To bring out from the depths
The pure water from the true well
To affect by not infecting
The defects of our own affliction.
To respect and not suspect
Nor reject what the architect
In His divine intellect in effect
Formed from clay to stand erect
Perfect, a direct reflection of His own image.

Yes we always wanted to do more,

And in fact we still do, but to you,
We bid adieu, for you have made do,
You have made it through
You have muddled through
Passed through
Pushed through
You have seen it through
You have broken on through
And now on the other side
You stand, not like a dog without bone,
Nor an actor out on loan,
And never alone, but yes on your own,
Equipped with everything you’ll need
As you have always been,
No less and no more.

We couldn’t do more.
We wouldn’t do less.
We offered to you only our best,
Which is no more nor less
Than what we ask of you,
Nor what we need of you,
From this day to the next,
Each day until your last.
What more could there ever be
Beyond infinite definite potential
Continuously sought for
And never fully found,
But always being found,
Seeking and finding,
And always more
Ever enough.

That in a sense
Is the essence of the reaching
We’ve been preaching
And teaching,
At least on our best days,
And today is one of those days
So I only have one thing left to say,
Put these my words away,
And find the more within yourself,
There is the fire burning hot enough,
And also the ice, equally great,
So will always suffice:
In other words,
More than enough.