Jason Reynolds, an American author of novels and poetry for young adults, delivered a commencement address for the graduates of Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 19, 2018. Although the speech was addressed directly to the graduates of Lesley University, the message is still relevant and applies to all individuals. Mr. Reynolds spoke on the importance of not achieving success on your own, but rather uplifting and empowering others so that everyone may succeed unitedly. To present this idea, Mr. Reynolds opened up his speech with traditional ideas and phrases that most people have been exposed to and can relate to, such as the common cliche, “Get out there, spread your wings, and change the world.” He uses this quote to summarize the messages of all commencement speeches that an individual has heard starting from elementary school. Mr. Reynolds reiterates that the speech he is going to give will also be based on that common cliche. What the audience does not yet know, is that this cliche will potentially be taken and transformed to represent an entirely alternate meaning.
To provide the audience with a visual perspective on a situation that will later turn into a comparison, Mr. Reynolds uses an anecdote. The anecdote circulates a class fish, Confucius, that the students were specifically told by their teacher Mr. Williams, not to touch under any circumstances or suspension would be the punishment. Mr. Reynolds tells the audience, “But about a month into Confucius’s residency, just after its daily feeding, Mr. Williams casually walked over to the tank and, using a net, removed the fish and set it on the floor. It flipped and flopped and flapped, gasping, inflating, deflating, dying in front of us. We gathered around to watch it, mortified, afraid, confused, until finally two young ladies shuffled into the circle, scooped Confucius up like a live grenade, and tossed the fish back into the tank.” Mr. Reynolds’ use of detail and specific word choice when telling the story allows the audience to visually imagine the situation occurring. The class watches the fish die as he is set on the ground, gasping for water as the air fills his lungs. Two females within the class break the silence, and quickly rush to pick up and save the fish. In response to this, the teacher, Mr. Williams, tells the two students to pack their belongings as they are being suspended for breaking the rule about not touching the fish. The two female students are upset and their classmates become confused. Mr. Williams tells the girl, “Pick your heads up. You have no reason to hang them because you, in fact, did the right thing. But sometimes doing the right thing has consequences.” This idea opens the audience up to the true message as Mr. Reynolds begins to make connections.
Later through his speech, he refers back to the common quote about spreading your wings. Mr. Reynolds addresses that not everyone is privileged enough to have wings and relates a less privileged person to the fish that struggled and needed help in order to carry on with life. The students who stood and watched as the fish was dying related to individuals with opportunity, and who have the privilege to sore and spread their wings. After these comparisons, Mr. Reynolds discourages using your wings to fly above the world, high enough to lose sight of those who are unable to fly in general. He stated, “…spread your wings, those broad wings you’ve been developing — the ones you’ve been fortunate enough to be reminded of over and over again — spread them as widely as possible, and in every direction, and ask if anyone else could use a feather or two. Maybe then, more of us might also have a moment to say, We made it.” This quote is Mr. Reynolds’ final quote of his speech and nicely ties together his message. Mr. Reynolds wrote this speech to encourage the graduates to use their wings that they’ve been fortunate enough to have, such as their diplomas. Rather than go into the world focusing only on themselves and how high they can fly above it all, they should use their wings, their gifts, to make the world better by offering those who are less fortunate a feather, so that everyone may succeed together.
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