The best graduation speech I've ever heard was only five minutes long. It got a standing ovation – something I never saw before at a graduation ceremony. Most surprising of all, the speaker was an eighth grader.

It was my daughter Abrielle. For listeners who hate my proud daddy moments, turn the volume down.

Sure, I’d given her advice (“Make ’em laugh, make ’em think, and make ’em cry”) and she let me read and comment on her text, but she was adamant that this was to be her speech, not mine. And it was. It was uniquely Aby, not just in content but in a poised and charming delivery – despite wind blowing the graduation certificates off a table and having to pause to deal with her own unexpected tears.

She told funny stories, poking fun at herself, her classmates, and especially her teachers. Then she complimented the teachers and led a “give it up” cheer for them, only to conclude: “Okay, teachers are important, but let’s not get carried away. Getting an education is a side benefit. The real purpose of middle school is to make friends and have fun – am I right?”

Then she changed the mood, reminding her classmates to think about the three years of intense adolescent emotion – conversations, fights, getting caught between feuding friends, sharing deepest thoughts, and crying on each others’ shoulders.

Summing up, she said, “When we think back on these years, we will think about what happened to us and around us. But what was really the most important was what happened in us.

“When all is said and done,” she added, “the crucial years we spent in middle school were really about growing up…and you know what? That’s what high school is going to be like. And, in fact, the rest of our lives.”

I, of course, cried when I realized how much she has grown up.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.