Grads told: Go out and find somebody to love.

PositionLOCAL NEWS

Byline: Carla Charter

ORANGE - The 88 Mahar Regional High School graduates were told by graduation speaker John Speek last night that he had one last lesson he wanted to impart to them: Find someone in life to love.

"A spouse, a parent, a friend, a child - find love," said Mr. Speek, who is an English teacher at the school. "The ultimate expression of love is not in an embrace or in a kiss," he continued, "but in simply holding hands."

He said there is nothing more joyous in life than holding hands with someone "who makes all the jagged edges smooth. Someone who warms his breath over you as he sleeps in your arms. Someone who will give you every sniffle because when they are sick you just want to hold them closer and when they lift their head and say, `Daddy, sing to me,' your heart will break with every note."

Mr. Speek reminded the graduates that with such a love comes commitment. "It's a love you will recommit to every morning and every day of your life.

"Love is the reason I stand here today. Find one person to dedicate your life to and in turn you will cultivate a love of humanity." Mr. Speek added that the love he learned from his mother, his wife, his children and one of his students - the late Kyle Flood, who died in February - is what led him to teaching.

"I hope for so many good things for your future. My most fervent wish for you, though, is that those who know you best will say what you do best is love. Then I will know I did my job."

Speek began his teaching career at Mahar when members of the graduating class were freshmen and said, "I feel like we've grown up together." He continued that when he saw his students writing in class he thought: "Yes, this is what I want to do with my life. Everything just felt right," and he joked that "being a Type-A personality, that feeling does not happen very often. I hope I can replicate it some day, but if I can't, it was beautiful."

Mahar Regional High School Class of 2007

Hilary F. Adam, Misael Jose Alvira, Brian Archer, Amanda Marie Armentrout, Amanda Lynn Bedore, Andrew James Bezio, Stephanie Ann Blanchette, Lisa Bolduc, Scott J. Boudreau, Amanda Lynn Chenausky, Daniel David Cleveland, Lisa Marie Cleveland, Devin Louden...

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