Graduation Speech: God, Grant Me Wisdom :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

The year is 2038. I, Bob Millings, am a retired multi-millionare relaxing on the porch of my beach house on the Northshore of Oahu in the Hawaii Islands. Having already earned my millions from selling the hundreds of Ichiro cards that I amassed throughout the past 20 years, I have nothing else better to do than lay on my beach chair and soak up the rays. Suddenly a flock of seagulls (yes, seagulls fly in flocks) crosses my line of vision, and a tear comes to my eye. Oh, how that magnificent bird reminds me of the best four years of my life at County High School, the home of the Seagulls. My mind suddenly floats back 26 years to the past to a time when I was finishing up my career at that prestigious academy of learning. I didn't know it then, but some of my most valuable lessons were learned during those four years. No, I am not talking about those smarts I learned my freshman year, like remembering never to fall asleep in Mr. Bull's Biology class, or realizing that it was in my best interest to steer clear of the Senior Lot after school. Nor am I speaking about those important things I was taught during my crazy sophomore and junior years, like how important Planning Team is, how Wendy's is the best lunchtime meal around, or how a hook is one of the most important parts of an essay. I'm not even talking about those skills I picked up my senior year, like being able to get ready in the morning in less than seven minutes, remembering to switch arms while sleeping on a desk so your arm won't fall asleep, or those great moves I learned during chess days in Mrs. Johnson' s class. No, I am talking about that word that came into play time and time again during my high school career: acceptance. I constantly found myself in a position where I was on the brink of insanity during school. Maybe I was mad at one of my friends, or I had three tests in one day, or I was given a 500-page book to read in less than two weeks. There was always that thought in the back of my mind that I could just quit and forget about it all and stop caring. But than that word would come up, and I would accept all those things and realize that my friend and I would make up, those tests would be over soon, and that book is actually not all that bad.

Diderot

I have come to a point in life that many people have not. I have made a firm decision to recommit myself to pursuing my dreams. While there are those who believe that with an ounce of luck and a ton of persistence anything can be accomplished, I believe that there is no reason to expend so much energy and rely on luck. I believe in taking hold of my destiny and carving out a future for myself based on the decisions that I make in life. Life is simply too short and too precious to be left to luck alone.I have many very special characteristics that make this profession one that I will not only excel at, but one that I know will provide me with great opportunity to meet and treat my community. Although an excellent student, my ability to listen to people has helped me to excel both professionally and personally. Too often people are misdiagnosed, misheard and not heard at all because of the time constraints forced on the profession by the high number of patients and insurance constraint s.This was not always a characteristic I would consider my strongest, but after realizing the importance of listening to people I decided to change my own behavior, and even change my small part of the world. The ability to hear people, to really listen, has transformed my life in a positive and crucial way. This experience of working with those who are less fortunate in life has opened my eyes to the possibilities of pursuing a career that revolves around helping others. I realize that there is a lot that I am grateful for in life and that there is also so much that I can give to others.By devoting my life to the service of others I am confident that I too can benefit by having the opportunity to learn more about myself and others. Growing up we lived in a middle income neighborhood, at best, and I was very fortunate to be surrounded with not only many cultures, but many income levels. My friends were as diverse as the neighborhood we lived in, a melting pot. I learned early on not to pass judgments on people based on their wealth, lack of it, color, religious background or anything that may make my friends different from me.Some of my best memories are of all of sharing what we did on the holidays. I was grateful for such loyal friends and will never forget how they helped me become the adult I am today. These, I believe, are the main characteristics that one needs to possess for social work practice. While I may not have the qualifications as others, I am confident that my determination to succeed in the pursuit of a career in social work will help me in the future. From the point of view of personal growth, I must admit that there is so much for me to gain from doing voluntary service at the elderly home.One important aspect of personal growth is the understanding and the lessons that I can learn from the elderly. The youth, such as me, must learn how to acknowledge the achievements of the older generation and respect their experience. The older generation has a hard time teaching the youth how to avoid the same mistakes that they made when they were young because all they see is wasted and reckless youth but I see that my exposure at a home for the elderly will give me the unique opportunity to learn from them and perhaps avoid the same mistakes.I have found that my experiences with the older generation have inspired in me the joys of learning. As previously mentioned, there is so much that I can learn from them and so much knowledge and wisdom that they can impart. As such, this also creates a certain excitement for me for I know that as I grow as a person there lies so much for me in the world. Unique opportunities that are available to those who are prepared and ready to make a contribution to the world. Pursuing my career in this course is just the first step in my plan. My main philosophy in life is to lead by setting an example.I cannot expect others to do what I myself would be willing to do but that does not mean that I cann ot hope that others will see the example that I have shown them. This philosophy is one of the many forces that drive me to pursue my dream of pursuing this career and of becoming so much more in life. The chance to help those who are less fortunate in life, the chance to help those in need, the opportunity to be of service to humanity; these are the reasons why I have selected this as the profession that I will pursue; for, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, â€Å"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Domestication - The History of Peas and Humans

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a cool season legume, a diploid species belonging to the Leguminosae family (aka Fabaceae). Domesticated about 11,000 years ago or so, peas are an important human and animal food crop cultivated throughout the world. Key Takeaways: Domesticated Peas Peas are one of several legumes, and a founder crop domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 11,000 years ago.  The earliest human consumption of wild peas was at least 23,000 years ago, and perhaps by our Neanderthal cousins as long ago as 46,000 years ago.  There are three modern species of peas, and they are very complex genetically and their precise domestication process has yet to be figured out.  Ã‚   Description Since 2003, global cultivation has ranged between 1.6 to 2.2 million planted hectares (4–5.4 million acres) producing 12–17.4 million tons per year. Peas are a rich source of protein (23–25%), essential amino acids, complex carbohydrates, and mineral content like iron, calcium, and potassium. They are naturally low in sodium and fat. Today peas are used in soups, breakfast cereals, processed meat, health foods, pasta, and purees; they are processed into pea flour, starch, and protein. They are one of the eight so-called founder crops and among the earliest domesticated crops on our planet. Peas and Pea Species Three species of peas are known today: Pisum sativum L. extends from Iran and Turkmenistan through anterior Asia, northern Africa, and southern EuropeP. fulvum is found in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and IsraelP. abyssinicum is found from Yemen and Ethiopia Research suggests that both P. sativum and P. fulvum were domesticated in the Near East about 11,000 years ago, likely from P humile (also known as Pisum sativum subsp. elatius), and P. abyssinian was developed from P. sativum independently in the Old Kingdom or Middle Kingdom Egypt about 4,000–5,000 years ago. Subsequent breeding and improvements have resulted in the production of thousands of pea varieties today. The oldest possible evidence for people eating peas is that of starch grains founded embedded in the calculus (plaque) on Neanderthal teeth at Shanidar Cave and dated about 46,000 years ago. Those are tentative identifications to date: the starch grains are not necessarily those of P. sativum. Undomesticated pea remains were found at Ohalo II in Israel, in layers dated about 23,000 years ago. The earliest evidence for the purposeful cultivation of peas is from the Near East at the site of Jerf el Ahmar, Syria about 9,300 calendar years BCE [cal BCE] (11,300 years ago). Ahihud, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Israel, had domestic peas in a storage pit with other legumes (fava beans, lentils, and bitter vetch), suggesting they had been cultivated and/or used for the same purpose. Pea Domestication Pisum sativa (Sugar Snap peas). Jenny Dettrick / Moment / Getty Images Archaeological and genetic research indicates that the pea was domesticated by people purposefully selecting for peas that had a softer shell and ripened during the wet season. Unlike grains, which ripen all at once and stand up straight with their grains on predictably sized spikes, wild peas put out seeds all over their flexible plant stems, and they have a hard, water-impermeable shell that allows them to ripen over a very long period of time. While long producing seasons may sound like a great idea, harvesting such a plant at any one time is not terrifically productive: you have to return time and time again to collect enough to make a garden worthwhile. And because peas grow low to the ground and seeds arise all over the plant, harvesting them isnt particularly easy either. What a softer shell on the seeds does is allow the seeds to germinate in the wet season, thereby allowing more peas to ripen at the same, predictable time. Other traits developed in domesticated peas include pods that dont shatter on maturity—wild peapods shatter, scattering their seeds out to reproduce; we would prefer that they wait until we get there. Wild peas have smaller seeds, too: wild pea seed weights range between .09 to .11 (about 3/100ths of an ounce) grams and domesticated ones are larger, ranging between .12 to .3 grams, or 4/100th to a tenth of an ounce. Studying Peas Peas were one of the first plants studied by geneticists, starting with Thomas Andrew Knight in the 1790s, not to mention the famous studies by Gregor Mendel in the 1860s. But, interestingly enough, mapping the pea genome has lagged behind other crops because it has such a large and complex genome. There are important collections of pea germplasm with 1,000 or more pea varieties located in 15 different countries. Several different research teams have begun the process of studying pea genetics based on those collections, but the variability in Pisum has continued to be problematic. Israeli botanist Shahal Abbo and his colleagues built wild pea nurseries in several gardens in Israel and compared the grain yield patterns to those of domesticated pea. Selected Sources Abbo, S., A. Gopher, and S. Lev-Yadun. The Domestication of Crop Plants. Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences (Second Edition). Eds. Murray, Brian G., and Denis J. Murphy. Oxford: Academic Press, 2017. 50–54. Print.Bogdanova, Vera S., et al. Cryptic Divergences in the Genus Pisum L. (Peas), as Revealed by Phylogenetic Analysis of Plastid Genomes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 129 (2018): 280–90. Print.Caracuta, Valentina, et al. Farming Legumes in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic: New Discoveries from the Site of Ahihud (Israel). PLOS ONE 12.5 (2017): e0177859. Print.Hagenblad, Jenny, et al. Genetic Diversity in Local Cultivars of Garden Pea (Pisum Sativum L.) Conserved ‘on Farm’ and in Historical Collections. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 61.2 (2014): 413–22. Print.Jain, Shalu, et al. Genetic Diversity and Population Structure among Pea (Pisum Sativum L.) Cultivars as Revealed by Simple Sequence Repeat and Novel Genic Markers. Molecular Bi otechnology 56.10 (2014): 925–38. Print.Linstà ¤dter, J., M. Broich, and B. Weninger. Defining the Early Neolithic of the Eastern Rif, Morocco – Spatial Distribution, Chronological Framework and Impact of Environmental Changes. Quaternary International 472 (2018): 272–82. Print.Martin, Lucie. Plant Economy and Territory Exploitation in the Alps During the Neolithic (5000–4200 cal BC): First Results of Archaeobotanical Studies in the Valais (Switzerland). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 24.1 (2015): 63–73. Print.Sharma, Shagun, et al. Quality Traits Analysis and Protein Profiling of Field Pea (Pisum Sativum) Germplasm from Himalayan Region. Food Chemistry 172.0 (2015): 528–36. Print.Weeden, Norman F. Domestication of Pea (Pisum Sativum L.): The Case of the Abyssinian Pea. Frontiers in Plant Science 9.515 (2018). Print.