Former Miami Heat basketball player, Dwyane Wade, surprised the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this past Sunday, by showing up to their graduation ceremony and advising them on how to prepare for the next chapter. Wade made an appearance at MSD's commencement, where he delivered an emotional speech about the impact the school shooting had left on him and how he felt related to the students in his struggle after the massacre.
Wade described being invited as a guest to the school a month afterwards, and the haunting silence on campus. The star was invited to meet and talk with the grieving student body, and described how, to his surprise, just his presence was able to lift their spirits ... despite not being able to fully comprehend what they'd been through. The point he was trying to put across that even a mere act of kindness can go a long way.
He went on to tell the student body how he further identified with them at this point in time, saying he too had recently closed a big chapter in his own life - having retired from the NBA earlier this year - but that he was still excited about his next steps, as they should be as well. He also imparted a mantra that he had made up with his 2013 team, that they used "every game before we stepped on the court," inviting the student body to join him in his cheer. Wade gave them a series of instructions, in which he would say "nothing's difficult," to which they would reply, "everything's a challenge." "Through adversity" Wade would call the next sentence, and "to the stars" they would reply. The next exchange that followed was Wayde saying: "to the last man, to the last minute, to the last second," to which they would all come together to deliver a powerful "we fight! We fight! We fight!" Wade left the stage to huge applause.