The Graduation I Almost Missed

Yesterday, Thika reminded us that sometimes success comes with its own traffic jam.

Thousands of students gathered at Mount Kenya University for graduation. And, as graduation ceremonies tend to do, they brought along an entire ecosystem.

Parents.

Siblings.

Friends.

Relatives.

Photographers.

Flower sellers.

Food vendors.

Drivers.

And probably a few people who had no idea where the university was until yesterday morning.

The result was predictable.

Traffic.

And not the ordinary kind where you complain about someone overtaking you.

This was the kind where the vehicle stops moving and you begin questioning some of your life decisions.

Some people left home early enough and still found themselves trapped in the gridlock. Others arrived too late and missed the ceremony entirely.

Some graduates made it to the graduation but their families did not.

Others managed the ceremony but never made it to the celebrations afterwards.

It was, in its own peculiar way, a perfect metaphor for life.

You can do everything right and still encounter a traffic jam.

You can prepare.

You can wake up early.

You can plan your route.

You can leave plenty of time.

And sometimes you still find yourself sitting behind thousands of other people who had exactly the same brilliant idea.

Yet somewhere inside that chaos was something beautiful.

Thousands of young people were crossing an important milestone.

For many of them, yesterday represented years of lectures, examinations, assignments, financial sacrifice, late nights, uncertainty and the occasional academic crisis that made dropping out briefly appear like a perfectly reasonable career option.

But they made it.

And that deserves recognition.

To every graduand who walked across that stage yesterday, congratulations.

Your degree is not the end of the journey.

It is the beginning of another one.

The world outside the university gates is considerably less organised than the timetable you have just left behind. There are no lecturers reminding you about deadlines. No examination timetable telling you when the next challenge is coming.

You will have to create your own opportunities.

You will fail sometimes.

You will change direction.

You will discover that the certificate opens some doors but does not walk through them for you.

But you have already learned something important.

You can start something difficult and finish it.

Never underestimate that.

And to the parents, guardians, siblings, friends and relatives who stood behind these graduates, this celebration belongs to you too.

Somebody paid school fees.

Somebody sent money when the student called with an unexpected emergency.

Somebody encouraged them after a disappointing examination.

Somebody cooked.

Somebody prayed.

Somebody listened to the complaints about lecturers.

Somebody probably asked, "So when are you finishing?" several times before the actual graduation.

Those contributions rarely appear on the certificate.

But they are part of the achievement.

A graduation gown may carry one person's name.

The journey behind it carries many people's fingerprints.

Yesterday's traffic may have prevented some people from witnessing the ceremony.

Some families may have missed the photographs.

Some friends may have missed the party.

Some vendors probably spent more time watching stationary cars than selling their flowers.

But none of that takes away from what was accomplished.

Because life, like Thika traffic, does not always cooperate with our plans.

Sometimes we arrive late.

Sometimes we miss the moment we worked so hard to reach.

Sometimes the celebration happens differently from what we imagined.

But the milestone remains.

So, to the class that graduated yesterday: well done.

May your education give you knowledge, but may your experiences give you wisdom.

May you find work that gives you purpose, people who challenge you to grow, and enough courage to begin again when the first plan doesn't work.

And to the families and friends who helped get you there: take your bow too.

You may not have walked across the stage, but you helped build the person who did.

And perhaps that is the most beautiful part of any graduation.

The certificate belongs to the graduate.

The achievement belongs to many.

Congratulations to all the graduands. May the next chapter be even greater than the one you have just completed.