LINK Graduation 2010.pdf - Portland High School

Superintendent’s Remarks
Dr. James D. Morse
Graduation, June 2, 2010
Dr. James D. Morse
The first stanza states:
Class of 2010, thank you for this opportunity to speak to you.
Thirty-seven years ago I sat were you're sitting now, 18 years old,
graduating form Portland High School. I left Portland right after
graduation, not to live in the city again for 36 years.
I tried to remember who spoke at my graduation...nothing; I tried
hard to remember about my graduation...and I have only two
strong memories, Merrill, being lost in its majesty. I have spoken
all over Maine and I now know there are few places you will
stand in your life that has more presence than this room.
Another memory was our 1973 class song.
Last week I walked in on your class rehearsal when you were
singing your class song. In 1973, the class song was In My Life by
the Beatles. I am glad I got to sing this song with my class. It was
not one of the Beatles' most popular songs; it’s about memories
and it is about love. There is sadness in it of loss, and, at the
same time, a celebration of love.
“There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain”
We know you will experience change noted in this stanza, and, yet, somehow things will remain the same. The
neighborhoods I grew up in at the base of Munjoy Hill and on Oxford Street have been leveled. Sometimes change is
unnerving. My old apartment, just one block away, is now a parking lot.
I found myself driving the wrong way on a one-way street, wondering why everyone was going in the opposite
direction?! Sometimes in the last 36 years, while I was gone, the direction of the road was reversed.
But still, even though my childhood neighborhoods are gone, Portland is a far safer, cleaner, and a more beautiful city
today than it was in my childhood. It is a multi-cultural city, a gateway to the world, a city of many languages, a city
where world cultures meet and yet, a city where local neighborhoods and local interests still exist.
The Beatles continue
“All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all!”
You will experience loss. We all do. As I've run into old friends they've shared with me the early passing of
classmates. But even as some have passed, they live in my memories. You will choose new paths, make new friends,
and, yet, those friendships from high school will linger as distant, yet fond memories of your youth.
The Beatles yet again,
“But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new”
In many ways your lives are predictable. It doesn't take a crystal ball to know you will experience love. Most of
you will have children, one of life's many treasures, (even though at times your parents have questioned whether you
are a treasure) and you will learn that love is not selfish, that love is giving. Here are but a few examples of graduates
in your class who have learned that love is about giving.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
16