Our puppets strings are hard to see,
So we perceive ourselves as free,
Convinced that no mere objects could
Behave in terms of bad and good.

To you, we mannequins seem less
than live, because our consciousness
is that of dummies, made to sit
on laps of gods and mouth their wit;

Are you, our transcendental gods,
likewise dangled from your rods,
and need, to show spontaneous charm,
some higher god's inserted arm?

We seem to form a nested set,
With each the next one's marionette,
Who, if you asked him, would insist,
that he's the last ventriloquist.

by: Theodore Melnechuk

Today was commencement for graduating seniors and graduate students at the University of Michigan.  Held at the Big House football stadium, the obvious highlight of the proceedings was a visit from President Obama.

He addressed us as growing young adults moving into an uncertain and foggy future.  As cliche as it is to say, none of us in this group know what the coming years will bring.  It's exhilerating and nerve-wracking, jumping into the abyss with no parachute.

Call it sentimental or whatever, but perhaps I already miss a lot of being an undergrad.  You can hide in your anonymity.  Didn't do the reading?  Don't stand up and volunteer an answer.  Didn't do the homework?  Skip class, plead illness.

Points is, we all have more responsibilities now than most of us are prepared to deal with or consider.  Michigan gives us a great educational base with which to pursue our dreams, but perhaps the greatest gift it could have given us was the maturity to face what is next.

Problem is, no one knows what is next.