What Seniority Means

      Throughout the summer and even now three weeks into school I often hear "Whoah it's so weird that we're seniors now!" I think I've gotten pretty used to the idea, or at least familiar with the label being placed on me. But what I constantly wonder in my head is:

     What does being a senior really mean?

Does it mean we have the right to be respected above lower class-men?
Does it mean that we are better than others?
Cooler than others?

       As I thought about these questions I saw seniors of years past, of the seniors I loved and respected the most. Some names popped into my head, Joe Lambson, Ryan Adair, David Bean, Ben Jacob, among so many others. These seniors I respected not because they were seniors, but because they were leaders. Leaders among their friends, their groups and really the whole school. They saw and brought their groups and the school toward the potential they knew it had. Ben Jacob made such a difference in the school. He unified it. He energized it. Even without barely ever talking to him he made a sizable difference in my life. Joe, Ryan and David and so many others all likewise made huge differences in the lives of others. And sure they could do and did do this to some degree when they weren't seniors. But being a senior and being in the leadership positions they were in, they had an even larger circle of influence with which to make an impact and to lead.
      In the end that's all that being a senior is. It means you have greater opportunity to be a leader in the school, to help others and bring the groups you are in to a greater potential. In the words of President Hinkley: (with a few additions in brackets)


"Do we really comprehend, do we understand the tremendous significance of that which we have? This is the summation of the generations [grades] of man , the concluding chapter in the entire panorama of the human [high school] experience. "But this does not put us in a position of superiority. Rather, it should humble us. It places upon us an unforgiving responsibility to reach out with concern for all others in the spirit of the Master, who taught, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' (Matthew 19:19). We must cast out self-righteousness and rise above petty self-interest."
--Gordon B. Hinkley, "The Dawning of a Brighter Day," Ensign, May 2004, 83-84