Disclaimer: The standard rules apply. Next Generation characters do not belong to me. They are the property of Paramount. However, like any good collection it is only worth having if you can take it out every once in a while. Julianna though is mine. Of course I do not make any money from these writings, if I did I would not have a full time day job.
My Fellow Graduates
"Milestones," Admiral Jean Luc Picard intoned as he looked at the veritable sea of what to him were merely children. He had to remind himself more than once that he was as young as they were once and that when he graduated the Admiral that gave his commencement address probably thought the same thing. He returned to the speech, "throughout our entire lives we encounter them. Whether it is a birth, death, or even first contact with a new species, each should be remembered with the awe of a child. As you leave these grounds today you will pass several milestones. You will be adults, no longer students, many of you being on your own for the first time of your lives. You will no longer be Cadets but trusted officers in your various assignments. And finally you will be entrusted to make your own decisions for the first time in four or more years." He paused to allow the chuckles from Cadets and parents alike to subside. "From this moment on, you are no longer Cadets but commissioned Starfleet Officers.
"With that in mind I turn over the podium to the Valedictorian of the Starfleet Academy Class of 2408, Lieutenant Julianna Renee Riker." The Admiral stepped aside for the newly commissioned officer, and his Goddaughter, to step to the podium.
"My fellow graduates, we have come a long way from the people we were when we first step foot on these grounds. We have been tried, tested, and put through the proverbial wringer. We have watched as some of our classmates have failed, and others have excelled. We have persevered through all that has been set before us. Often times we have felt like we would drop where we stood, never to rise again.
"It has been said, that no man is an island. No statement, in my opinion, has ever been more true. All of us have needed support during our tenure here. Whether it has been from our superior officers, faculty, parents of friends, each of us has had to rely on the advice of others at least once.
"Now it has fallen to me to offer a final piece of parting advice. I would like to say that I divined this wisdom on my own, but I have chosen to take a piece of advice from what my father once told me. 'Julie,' he said, 'one day you may find yourself leading others. Remember that you should never forget the value of another's opinion. Listen with the same care to the ones that you command as you do to the ones who command you.' Among the myriad of things that he has said throughout my life I have found this to be one of the most valuable.
"So I ask you, my fellow graduates, to listen. Listen to all that is around you. Listen not only your superiors but to others as well. Temper your desire to be first to accomplish something with the wisdom of parents to be careful. Listen to your inner voice. Listen to the insights that it has to offer, most of the time it speaks to you truly. But most of all, listen to those around you. Every viewpoint is sacred, ant it may just be your saving grace.
Go now my fellow graduates and make your own way in this vast universe. I close this address with a quote from my Godfather, said in many variants over the years, but said at my parents wedding like this: 'My good friends; make it so.'"