There are a few students who are still here, but they are on campus because they are participating in summer camp, a program that's not part of the academic year events. So the end of the school year is here. Really.
I usually have something interesting, even mildly profound, to say on days like these, to sum up the year's events. But today, I have nothing left to say.
Perhaps it is because I know from past experience that the last day of the academic year is also the first day of the next academic year. Already my to-do list is full, so it seems pointless to sum things up, when there is no time for summation. Accumulation, not summation, is the general course of life, especially in the type of universe I inhabit.
Or maybe I have nothing left to say, because I have already used up every word I have. How many speeches, scolding talks, friendly chats, greetings of campus guests, words of reassurance, rounds of customary silly banter, bouts of irate grumbling, lame repetitive jokes, general explanations, exasperated expressions in committees, exhortations to be quiet while I am sleeping, and ten thousand other types of communication have I unleashed upon the world this past year? All I know is that the number is much too great, especially, I am sure, for the recipients of it all.
Or maybe it is just fatigue. Or the altitude.
I am not completely sure why I have nothing left to say. Certainly the reader must be commenting by now that there are far too many words in this post for someone who claims to have none. So then there is nothing left to say except that it is often the words that have been left unspoken that are the most important words of all and I hope that in the coming year, after I replenish my supply of words, that I am able to express the feelings of gratitude and hopefulness and reassurance and appreciation and apology and love and forgiveness that too often never reach the ears of anyone.
Perhaps it is because I know from past experience that the last day of the academic year is also the first day of the next academic year. Already my to-do list is full, so it seems pointless to sum things up, when there is no time for summation. Accumulation, not summation, is the general course of life, especially in the type of universe I inhabit.
Or maybe I have nothing left to say, because I have already used up every word I have. How many speeches, scolding talks, friendly chats, greetings of campus guests, words of reassurance, rounds of customary silly banter, bouts of irate grumbling, lame repetitive jokes, general explanations, exasperated expressions in committees, exhortations to be quiet while I am sleeping, and ten thousand other types of communication have I unleashed upon the world this past year? All I know is that the number is much too great, especially, I am sure, for the recipients of it all.
Or maybe it is just fatigue. Or the altitude.
I am not completely sure why I have nothing left to say. Certainly the reader must be commenting by now that there are far too many words in this post for someone who claims to have none. So then there is nothing left to say except that it is often the words that have been left unspoken that are the most important words of all and I hope that in the coming year, after I replenish my supply of words, that I am able to express the feelings of gratitude and hopefulness and reassurance and appreciation and apology and love and forgiveness that too often never reach the ears of anyone.
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