My high school graduation wasn’t much of a celebration. I went to it, I liked wearing a cap and gown, and I was happy to be with my friends, but we had no featured speaker, I was SO ready to move on and be at university (I thought I was going to Purdue and couldn’t WAIT to get there), my Dad was drunk (of course) and my Mom was in a hurry to leave and “beat the traffic.” It wasn’t a milestone event, there are just a few photos of me (in other people’s photos – my parents didn’t bring a camera) and my friends were all in a hurry to get somewhere else that night. No big deal for me, my family, and it felt like, for anyone else.
By stark contrast is the class of 2020. I am so impressed with how many high school seniors, teachers and parents this year have made such a big deal out of these graduations. I bet some of them wouldn’t had it not been for the pandemic. Seeing the video of the senior in the passenger side of his mom’s car as she drove him by his school, by his waving teachers, for a drive-by graduation, him waving his diploma and crying – it got me. He was proud. He was reflective. Everyone rose to the importance of the moment. That’s what graduation from high school SHOULD be. And his was a far more weighty event, in a long line of cars, people at a distance, than mine was.
Congrats, seniors. Now go fix this mess we’ve made.
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