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mokenamessenger.com sound off
the Mokena Messenger | June 7, 2018 | 17
Social snapshot
Top 10 Web Stories
From MokenaMessenger.com as of
Monday, June 4
1. Village of Mokena Board of Trustees:
Fines for fireworks could skyrocket to
$750
2. Pride Fest to bring equality, acceptance
to Mokena
3. Baseball: LW East shuts out Stagg for
regional crown
4. News from Your Neighbors: Police
investigating 60-person altercation;
more
5. Mokena residents receive academic
recognition
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“Just saw this guy at 114th close to Front
Street near MIS”
Gail Hoffman Bastas posted this to Mokena
Neighborhood Watch’s page Friday, June 1.
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“Congratulations to the Lincoln-Way Central Class
of 2018!”
@LWCentralKnight posted this to its Twitter
Page May 30.
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From the Editor
On being a lifelong learner
TJ Kremer iii
tj@mokenamessenger.com
First off, congrats to
the class of 2018. This
message is specifically
for you.
You’ve worked hard,
you’ve persevered and
you’ve finally made it out
of high school. Maybe that
seems like a big deal to you
now, and maybe it doesn’t,
but you should all count
yourselves lucky to have
had the chance at a decent
education and to make lasting
friendships along the
way. Not all are so lucky.
So, now the inevitable
question I’m sure many of
you have already gotten
several dozen times: What’s
next?
Some of you may already
have plans for college, or to
take a gap year and see the
world. Some of you may
already have a job lined up
and don’t have immediate
plans for college. And some
of you may have no clue
what you really want to do
over the next five years or
so. All of these directions
are OK.
There is no singular, right
path that will lead to your
ultimate happiness; much
of that will depend on the
choices you make when
confronted with forks in the
road, of which there will be
many.
Regardless of the choices
you make — and remake
and make again — about
your academic and professional
lives ahead of you,
you are now more or less
officially a part of the body
politic, and, in many ways,
it is up to you to save us
from ourselves.
Your class has already
had the opportunity to
become involved in the political
process this year with
the March for Our Lives
movement. Many of you
took part in the demonstrations,
along with your peers
from across the country.
You were shown, firsthand,
how viscously and viscerally
the political process often
works. You cannot allow
that to deter you from staying
involved in the issues
that you believe most in.
Now, it’s not my policy,
nor the policy of my employers,
to tell you which
issues you should care about
and on which side of the political
spectrum you should
fall. Only you can decide
that. The important thing is
that you do something. To
do nothing is to leave your
fate entirely up to those who
may not give a flying hoot
about what’s important to
you, individually or collectively.
You need to learn how
to better become your own
advocates. Unfortunately,
many of us “adults” in
recent years have left you
with poor examples of how
to do this, so it’s going to
be up to you to shape the
political discourse that is
so important to making a
democracy work.
And this is where lifelong
learning comes into play.
You must now take the
education you’ve been
given and expand on it,
whether that be through a
formal continuation in a
higher education setting, or
through picking up invaluable
“street smarts” through
constant and varied discussion
with peers and coworkers
in the “real world.”
It is critical that you
continue to learn through
your experiences, in the
classroom or outside it,
apply that knowledge to the
issues at hand and continue
to develop your own critical
thinking skills.
Paramount to making the
world — or, at least, our
own country — a better
place in which to live is the
ability to consider views
that are different than your
own, to be empathic. You
don’t always have agree
with another’s view points,
but you should at least always
try to understand their
point of view.
Our world is a scary
place. For many years,
there have probably been
many adults who have tried,
with the best of intentions,
to shield you from it.
Congratulations: You are
shielded no longer. Much
like Plato’s, “Allegory of
the Cave,” you are now being
tossed into the sunlight,
and it is up to you to bring
the Truth of that light to others,
through your words and
your deeds.
This may seem as a heavy
burden, especially when, I
suspect, many of you would
rather concentrate on your
first summer out of high
school. But you must make
it your mission to leave the
world a better place than
you found it because we are
all depending on you.
The wait is over. The time
is now yours to shape the
world. I wish you wisdom
and patience on this next
journey you’re about to
take. It will not be easy, but
it will be worth it. May the
Force be with you, always.
Sound Off Policy
Editorials and columns are the opinions of the author. Pieces from 22nd
Century Media are the thoughts of the company as a whole. The Mokena
Messenger encourages readers to write letters to Sound Off. All letters
must be signed, and names and hometowns will be published. We also
ask that writers include their address and phone number for verification,
not publication. Letters should be limited to 400 words. The Mokena Messenger
reserves the right to edit letters. Letters become property of The
Mokena Messenger. Letters that are published do not reflect the thoughts
and views of The Mokena Messenger. Letters can be mailed to: The Mokena
Messenger, 11516 West 183rd Street, Unit SW Office Condo #3, Orland
Park, Illinois, 60467. Fax letters to (708) 326-9179 or e-mail to tj@mok
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