Au revoir l'Université

April 111, Sinq Laison
University of Caille, Campus Bourynes

Text shimmers in front of me.

I have read it and know what it means. Actually, I have been expecting it. But it's still hard to believe.

No way. Finally?

The words are simple.

Gallente Business - Entrepeneur Elite
Issued via: University of Caille

This certificate is the final step of the Caille University graduate program for Entrepreneur specialists. It certifies that the holder of the certificate...

The real meaning is not that simple. It means it is time to say goodbye.

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Have you guys gotten this feeling that you follow a pre-established path? No, no, don't get me wrong, this is not Fate, she acts in ways so much subtler. This is standing in the forest, looking around you and seeing a worn path on the ground. It may be the twigs, the grass or a hole in the thicket. Someone has been here before. That's the way to go.

And what do you do? You follow the path.

Not because they force you to. Not because it's your greater destiny. Not even because of a reason. Just... because. Because you are lazy, because it's the easiest thing to do, because it's the next absentminded step after what you were doing before. Keep still when you were still or keep moving in the direction you were. It's not Fate but that lazy slob, Inertia.

That's the feeling.

So what if I have followed the worn path all my life. Go to school. Make friends at school. Move with family, make friends elsewhere. School is over, what's next? University. Stay put for the Master's Degree. Oh, excuse me if I yawn for a bit.

I was admitted into the University of Caille some six years ago, it has been two and a half since I became a capsuleer. I started, all bright eyed and excited about spaceflight. I remember wanting to move stuff from here to there and make a killing on the market. See, I have a life down planetside and the market fits nicely with... living.

I learned very quickly that pure social and market would not be enough, so I learned to make a killing in different ways -one needs to know how to look after oneself, you know. Then I went into the fast courier business -I am just so good at the running away part of fighting,- and learned how to go faster and faster. Then I found racing and eventually, I learned to fit and invent and build my own stuff. Then T2. You know the rest of the story.

That is how I followed the path.

As it turns out, I fell right in the middle of some of the best people you can meet in space; some of them my team, some of them adversaries, all of them my friends. I have learned from them, I am a better person because of them, and I hope they feel the same. I have learned little things: a smile goes a long way; always say hello and always say goodbye; it's about the people, not the spaceships.

All these things I have learned while walking down the path. I have made small decisions in the meantime, and enjoyed some stunning views while looking that way or the other.

In the end, what I am saying is... I am grateful for the path.

So here I stand, in the middle of the forest, with most decisions having been made for me long before I took the easy way forward. And you know what? Now that I have arrived, I look around and find that there is no path ahead, no path around. From now on, there are only choices.

It feels good.

So thank you, Dean Arele and CEO Hatiniestan, for giving us safe paths to walk along. Thanks everyone here, for helping us along the way. We have reached this point where, although we will never stop learning, we will make choices that are fully ours.

To those graduating today, I say goodbye, et bonne chance. From now on, you choose how to make a path ahead of you. You have reached the end of this one path, who knows which one you will open ahead of you?

And to those of you staying in UC, I can only say... fly safe, nuggets, until we meet again.

Graduation Ceremony
Elite Entrepeneur Programme
University of Caille, April 111

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Click.

Path no more.