You are not special. You are not exceptional.<\/p>\n
Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you\u201d\u00a6 you\u2019re nothing special.
Yes, you\u2019ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You\u2019ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You\u2019ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we\u2019ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you\u2019ve even had your picture in the Townsman! [Editor\u2019s upgrade: Or The Swellesley Report!] And now you\u2019ve conquered high school\u201d\u00a6 and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building\u201d\u00a6<\/p>\n
But do not get the idea you\u2019re anything special. Because you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can\u2019t ignore….<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a> or you can watch it all on video there<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You are not special. You are not exceptional. Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia,…<\/span><\/p>\n