雖然才短短六分鐘，台上那穿著畢業白袍的小不點，風趣、幽默、且真情流露的致詞，牽引著台下1700多位師長、親友、來賓…，笑聲不斷。我這老媽置身其中，卻是熱淚盈框。

這就是四年前那位痛恨上學，放學後幾乎天天哭泣的女孩嗎？

那年，大女兒大學即將畢業，我這稍稍「有了經驗」的媽媽，看到我們這區的公立學校每況愈下，深覺高中應該是孩子價值觀、道德觀確立的重要時期，而不是在「相對中」、無所謂對錯中，付出可怕代價、日後追悔莫及的時期。

就這樣，小女兒公立初中畢業後，我們讓她進了「人生地不熟」的私立基督教高中。

那一年，我整天被她弄得牽腸掛肚，跟著她情緒起舞；心疼中，一再懷疑自己是否做錯了決定？

四年後，這篇畢業生代表致詞，早已觧開了我們的困惑，並畫下「永久的休止符」。

為了保存演講中的原意與趣味性，我就以英文刊登，文後添上註解，以方便網友了解一些背景。
………………
Good evening. Thank you for coming to Berean Christian High School's graduation ceremony for the class of 2007. My name is Jocelyn Chang, but most people call me Chiyo. (By the way, that was not an open invitation to call me that.) First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude for this opportunity to speak tonight, and especially for the freedom to include Christian references in my speech. Of course, I would hope I would be able to speak about God, otherwise there could be something seriously wrong with what I've been learning here these last four years. In a secular school, I would most likely be unplugged if I mentioned God, but I think I would get some hard core demerits for not mentioning Him here today.

I feel very privileged to be here, and with that in mind, I would like to point out the irony of my position. As co-salutatorian, I was called in from the office to be congratulated, and left rewarded with more work. I'm sorry, but I checked out the moment I turned in that AP English portfolio. So I apologize in advance if you begin feeling as if your ears are being assaulted by my words. If I were in charge of the system, Carla, Britney, and I would be sitting back there, and all the rest of you would be given extra work as punishment by delivering individual speeches up here. But, like I said before, I feel privileged to be in such an honorary position.

I would like to begin by bringing you into an episode of my life through a week-long journal entry I wrote four years ago. This signifies the beginning of my high school career.


September 2, 2003
Today was the dreaded first day of high school. I have officially entered the Berean bubble. We prayed in class today, which is new for me, and I met a girl named Marta. She entertained me with her over-enthusiasm for school. I don't understand. Besides that, it was a pretty horrible day.

September 3, 2003
I hate school and the World History classroom smells funny.

Sept 4, 2003
I hate school and I have no friends.

Sept 5, 2003
School stinks. (Mr. T, I'll be waiting out front after the recessional for your euphemism lecture).

September 6, 2003
Dear diary,
Mood: apathetic. My life is spiraling downward…

September 6, 2003
A teacher came up to me the other day and started talking to me like she was trying to be my friend or something. That was sufficiently awkward. It's the end of the week and I still know absolutely no one. And to think, this is just week one of a million in high school. The end won't come soon enough.

It is hard to believe that was four years ago. I never would have imagined myself standing here before you now, reminiscing about my high school experience. God placed an enormous trial before me when he brought me to Berean. The first two years were grueling as I struggled to understand my purpose at this school. In my perspective, Berean was just an overly-sheltered environment where parents could keep their kids safe for just a while longer before releasing them into the real world.

It's funny the way God works. What I thought was an absolute curse, turned out to be one of my most cherished blessings. Little did I realize that it was here where I would meet some of my closest friends and most inspirational mentors; and encounter my most precious lessons and most demanding challenges.

My experience at Berean exemplifies how God will always have His way with you if you are open enough to allow Him to mold you into who He wants you to be. As we will all be experiencing an enormous change in a few months, remember when the road gets tough, there is a bigger picture and a bigger God who will always be in control, giving you the best. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."


I suppose a graduation speech would not be a graduation speech without the denotation of a word, an analogy, a witty joke, a quote (I mean quotation, Mrs. T.), or a cliché saying, so here are my two cents. There is an interesting sign that stands at the exit of the school. I honestly did not notice it until last year because I thought it was a no-parking sign, but it actually reads, “Welcome to the mission field.” The dictionary defined the word “mission” as “a special task or purpose for which a person is apparently destined in life; a calling.” I no longer view Berean Christian HS as a prison cell, but rather as a missions training program. Berean is not trying to block us out from the real world, but to disciple and equip us as lifetime missionaries and followers of Christ on the mission field.

I would like to end my speech with a journal entry dated June 7, 2007

Class of 07 is graduating tomorrow! We're ending another chapter of our lives, reaching a foothill in our climb, approaching a landmark on a dirt road along the hedge, or insert some other catchy phrase here (those are my other two cents). I cleaned out my locker, checked out of school, bought another tassel because I didn't want to look like Cassie Heyer, had lunch with the Calculus class, and I think I'm just about ready to go, minus hitting reality, joining a massive tear-shed party, and reading my speech. I have become Berean-bubble-ized, but the product of that is a heart, ready to “go out into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” And while four years ago, the end couldn't have come soon enough, today I admit that I can't believe the end has come so fast.

Welcome to the mission field, class of '007.
………………
※他們學校的名字Berean，取自聖經使徒行傳17:11「這地方的人(Bereans)賢於…，天天查考聖經，要曉得這道，是或不是？」

※Chiyo是美日混血兒，由另一所公立初中升上來。第一年，同學老是把她們名字叫錯。哪想到四年後，二人成了最要好的朋友。

※第一段中提到unplug(拔掉插頭)事件，源於有公立學校畢業生代表致詞時，因為提到信仰，被學校拔掉麥克風插頭的事件。這事已鬧上法庭。以後有機會，我倒想寫寫ACLU這個律師團體，對美國當今的社會造成多麼惡質的影響。

※Carla也在這次畢業典禮上致詞。而Britney則是宣佈開始頒發畢業證書的學生。

※2003年9月2日，開學第一天日記中提到的Marta，過去一直是「在家受教育」(Home Schooling)的孩子，那天第一次到正式的學校上課，興奮極了。

※9月5日，日記中用到stink這個字，她知道不雅。Mr. T是她十二年級的聖經課老師。所以囉…

※許多人都有這種想法：送小孩到基督教學校唸書，是父母讓孩子躲在「保護網」裡，晚幾年去面對「真實世界」的做法。這也是小女兒四年前的想法。

※神做事的法則，常常是將咒詛化為祝福。人們遭遇的困境，往往成了神化裝的祝福。小女兒年紀輕輕，已經有所體會。

※此處引用的經文為耶利米書29：11「耶和華說：我知道我向你們所懷的意念，是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念，要叫你們末後有指望。」

※Mrs. T是她的英文AP老師，對用字的正確性要求極高。小女兒知道這裡她的要求是用quotation。

※「Welcome to the mission field」，他們學校的確是帶有使命的場所，老師們不只是言教，更是身教。許多老師開放家庭接待學生，更和學生成為良友。

※她最後那段提到的同學Cassie Heyer，和她一樣，畢業帽上的穗子之前在畢業禮拜中也掉了，所以趕快補買了一個。

※結尾時，她以電影《OO7情報員》與《虎膽妙算》(Mission Impossible)，和他們學校的"Mission Field"與2007年班次畢業生，作出了對比。
…………………………………
／瀟碧 6. 19. 2007
／圖：十七年前的小女兒
／音樂：畢業典禮上，合唱團唱了詩篇23篇《耶和華是我的牧者》