There is nothing to say that has not already been said before. Since the formation of the English language, people have strung together words that they believed would make an impact. Advice was, and still is, handed out like flyers among the buzzing masses, encouraging the world to let go of what they knew before and open their minds to a new, abstract way of doing things. However, if there is one thing I have learned, it is that there is nothing new under the sun.

For if I come up with an idea, is it really mine? How do I know that the 7.125 billion other people on Earth have not had the same exact epiphany as I? The answer is: I don’t. I just know that they have not taken action. That makes all the difference, doesn’t it?

Our actions define us. From day one of my education, I have been taught to use my words. To speak to people and let them know what I am thinking or feeling. Human beings are not mind readers, and without communication, there is no connection. Words are where the magic lies.

Next year, I’ll be attending Clarke University with a double major in music and communications. Now, at the beginning of my senior year, I was in a panic. There was not even a ghost of an idea in my mind of what I wanted to do with my education, much less the rest of my life. I went through phases of seeking colleges three hours away to exploring the option of not going to college immediately and instead taking a year off. Nothing seemed to fit. It wasn’t until I sat down in my theology class where I had made it a habit to run my mouth for at least half of the class period that I was told by my teacher that I should have a “career in explaining things.”

Now, to my knowledge there is no such thing. Sure, there is the teaching profession, but that’s not so much about explaining things as it is providing information and molding minds so that they can absorb it. A necessary, but difficult job; one I doubt I would excel in. So what was I to do? Create my own profession? Become a minister of the streets and proclaim to everyone listening that the end was nigh? That seems to be the only path in which “explaining things” is the only required skill. It doesn’t really matter whether the information is correct or not.

But I want to be truthful. I want to change things, create things, and more than anything make a name for myself. That seems to be the goal of every aspiring graduate. But how many of them succeed? Perhaps a handful, if luck is on the class of 2016’s side. It’s all about action.

And wow, we’ve come full circle. Try. Work. Succeed. Those are the steps I have learned to live by. Thought is nothing without action, so go out there and do something.