Twenty-one years ago, I graduated from Hermitage High School and thirty years before that, my parents graduated from the very same school—as did my big brother and almost all of my aunts and uncles.
Our apples do not fall far from the tree.
Panther pride runs deep in our family, and we like to look out for our own. Everyone in my family was particularly touched by one of the school’s recent graduates named D’Marco Jackson.
At last year’s graduation, D’Marco, a graduating senior, was asked to say a few inspiring words after he battled cancer—and won—while at Hermitage High.
As his story goes, D’Marco was 16-years-old and living a big life when he was diagnosed. He was a sophomore, star football player, pep rally emcee, and Student Council Vice President. It was his sophomore year. His blood work revealed a case of Severe Aplastic Anemia, a cancer destroying his bone marrow cells.
After months of blood transfusions and chemotherapy, D’Marco’s cancer went into remission. Two years later, he was asked to share his perspective with class.
D’Marco inspired a room of 3,000 students and parents with a very clear and compelling message: make the most of the present. He truly captured the hearts and souls of his audience when he laid down this line:
Do not let the realities of the past or the possibilities of the future negatively affect the peace, joy, and happiness that the present has to offer.
I can still recite that line in my sleep. I love it that much.
I don’t even want to think about what I was doing when I was 18-years-old…because while I recall it being fun, it sure wasn’t pretty and not the least bit inspiring.
What were you doing at 18-years-old?
D’Marco’s diagnosis gave him a perspective that most of us miss out on: the ability to stay in the present moment without reliving regrets from the past or fast-forwarding to fears about the future.
D’Marco’s perspective was simply stunning. I also have no doubt that thousands of people’s lives were improved by his profound speech.
And then, D’Marco died.
Goddammit, he died. His cancer took over, and he died.
What D’Marco Jackson knew during his graduation speech, that nobody knew except his family, was that his cancer was back. And it was back with a vengeance.
But he still gave the speech.
Think about that. D’Marco had a powerful message to share with the world, but he was no longer giving it from the vantage point of a cancer survivor. He gave it knowing that his cancer was back, and it would likely kill him.
D’Marco’s now-famous quote takes on a much deeper meaning when you know this, doesn’t it? What a remarkable, remarkable human being. Despite the forecast of a very rough future, he forced himself to stay in the present and to embrace the joy and happiness it had to offer.
On April 19, 2016, the day D’Marco Jackson died, 6,000 other people in the United States died. As a matter of fact, every single day, 6,000 people die in this country.
But you haven’t.
So live for today. When you live for the future, whether it’s bright or burdensome, your journey is no longer an adventure, but an obsessive need to arrive and attain.
As D’Marco explained at the end of his speech, “At one time, my future looked short because of the toll my young body had taken, but right now, in this present moment, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”
Every person reading this post has been afforded the luxury of being able to live in the present moment.
Why not embrace it?
