Color the future you want to see

Life is like a box of crayons.

As a youngster things are simple. You start out with a four-pack of the basic colors and a coloring sheet with a preprinted basic design on it.

By elementary school you advance to the eight and then to 16 and 24-color packs as you gain experience and understanding about the shades between the basic colors and how they are just as valid as the primary colors, each adding depth and tone to an image. Your coloring sheets likewise become more detailed and the designs more intricate.

As you enter high school the color palette increases as does your understanding that few things are as black and white as they may seem at first glance. Hard-earned experience lets you see the varying shades and hues and appreciate them for what they are. At the same time that your exposure to new ideas, represented by the increasing number of colors in your crayon box, your coloring sheets become less detailed — leaving more room for your own interpretation and exploration.

For some this is too much to handle. They need the security of coloring within the lines. Others are ready to make the leap ahead and color outside the lines, making designs of their own imaginings.

Graduation day is the equivalent of getting handed a brand new 64-pack of crayons, the fancy kind with the built-in sharpener in the box. The giant roll of paper that is your future unfurls in front of you and you are challenged to make your own picture. The outlines on that paper depend on what paths and choices you have made through your time in school and life decisions.

For many people, this is terrifying and understandably so.

If you were lucky and paid attention, all along the way your parents, family and teachers were there preparing you for this moment, tracing in lines to follow and goals to strive for. They taught you the benefits of having clean lines to define your picture. They taught you about the times when things become blurred and how to find opportunities in obstacles or how to turn a seeming deadend into a starting point for a fresh beginning.

The challenge for graduates is what to do with that shiny box of crayons and blank paper.

Just as those preschool coloring sheets were far from perfect, the first efforts into adulthood won’t be perfect. There will be false starts and design ideas that may spring up along the way.

A box of fresh, sharp crayons and a roll of paper represents the potential for a masterpiece. The important thing is that the potential is not squandered, the crayons aren’t just left in the back of the car to melt into a blob.

For graduates the future is what you color it to be.

Members of The Star News editorial board include Publisher Carol O’Leary, General Manager Kris O’Leary and News Editor Brian Wilson.