To The Graduate - Two Uber Gift Cards

by Darryl L. Fortson, MD

To The Graduate:

Congratulations, young lady, on your graduation day tomorrow! All of us are so very proud of what you and your sisters have accomplished thus far, and we wish and pray for your every future success!

Enclosed in this envelope, with the graduation card and this letter, are two Uber gift cards from your Auntie Shelia and me. The first Uber card is for taking you wherever you need to go. The second is for taking you wherever you want to go. In this life, you will need both cards.

Over the course of your life, you will need to go some places, and they will not always be places you wish to go. Sometimes, you will need to go somewhere to confront someone, or something face to face. You may need to go somewhere to say goodbye or to say, "I'm sorry." There will, more likely than not, be a need at some point, for you to get away from someone who is no good for you or to you, or away from someone who does not have your best interests at heart. To go to or leave these difficult places will require courage.

'"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” - Revelations 17:9

What stands out in this intimidating passage is that hell bound people will do many awful things to earn entry there, but the first person in line will be the coward. Your father is my line brother; the number one, the shortest of us all. But he was brave; he was very brave. All of us who pledged with him are taller than he is, but all of us look to him. You are not tall, but that does not mean that you can't be looked up to. We look up to your father because, in every instance, no matter the fear or peril, he went where he needed to go. As best you can, as much as you can, go "where you need to go." The Uber card eliminates the "transportation" excuse; the courage part will have to come from you. It may help you to know that, when you go in life where you need to go, the Lord will always be with you. You have shown courage before - continue to.

You will make mistakes. There will be times when you think you need to go to a place, and you find out that there was no need to go there after all. You will feel like you wasted your time. Sometimes who and what you expect to be there will not be the case upon your arrival. There will be times you will have to wait patiently for you what you need there. Other times you will have to fight to get it. There is a name for this phenomenon. It is called "life."

To endure life, you will have to afford yourself two things. The first is mercy, and the other is grace. God has already granted you both - otherwise, you wouldn't be alive. It's the mercy and the grace that you afford yourself that is the challenge. Being merciful doesn't mean making excuses for your mistakes; instead, it means forgiving yourself and moving to the next destination with your Uber gift card, in freedom. I often think about the Apostle Paul and how terrible he must felt at times after his Christian conversion, reflecting on all the people he had hurt and led to their deaths as a "Christian hunter." He speaks to this in his Epistles, but he doesn't dwell on it. He focuses on his future and the futures of the people he is called to lead. He didn't use his Uber card to go where he was; he didn't not use it and just stay stuck; instead, he used his Uber card to move forward and go where he needed go and do what he needed to do.

Your other card is for taking you where you want to go - higher, better, more empowered, more successful. Use the other card first to do what you need to do (pray, listen, study, do the reps) and you will be closer to your destination of what you want. If you use the first card, you will have more money on the second card. To use this second card, you will need something extra as well. You will need to have faith.

Nothing revolutionary or transformative is accomplished by doing what everybody else is doing and the way everybody else is doing it. You are a young Black woman, and Black people need revolution and transformation. You will have to have faith to use the second card, because you don't fully know where the journey with this card will lead you. But God is so, so good. God brought you through college by His Uber through the center of gravity of love and family. He kept you today. He will keep you every day! You got here by your faith and the faith of those who love you. You will graduate by faith tomorrow. Thank you, Jesus, in advance!

Remember to use your second Uber card to get to the places and spaces that fulfill the best and highest desires of your heart - to places of challenge and knowledge, to places of hope and labors of love, and to spaces of peace and tranquility. I am in such a place now - your mother and father's kitchen. Don't forget, from time to time, as your first Uber card takes you away from this place, to use the second to return home.

Keep this letter. I suspect you will run across it over the years at the times you need to re-read the most. The message will appreciate in value. Use the cards, but always keep two in your wallet - not just to get you somewhere, but to remind you of where you need and want to go.

Have courage. Have Faith. Forgive. Improve. Listen. Befriend. Learn. Rise.

Love,

Uncle Darryl and Auntie Shelia