Thoughts on Graduation

Between Easter and the Fourth of July there is another cause for celebration. It’s the season for graduation. At school auditoriums, amphitheaters and courtyards across the country, students of all ages gather with their families to receive diplomas. Following the ceremony, many attend parties in public parks or union halls, or under tents on private lawns lit up with tiki lamps. For some, there is a genuine sense of embarkment, a new journey in life. For others, it is a good excuse to throw a party.

Today, kindergartens, middle schools, high schools, and universities all stake their claims as milestones along the education highway. Some critics might argue that it’s overkill to label students at so many grade levels as “graduates,” and that we are too inclined to shower kids with accolades (and trophies). Yet one might also argue there is value in boosting students’ self-esteem. We get only so many chances for feel-good moments in life – might as well seize the day.

But what I am getting at in this essay is a broader notion of graduation as something more than a stopping and starting point in formal education. It goes beyond attending classes and passing tests. And it is never the last station at the end of the line (perhaps not even in death). Graduation is a lifelong process to be measured by breaths and heartbeats, laughter and tears, victories and defeats.

We are all active in a continuum of learning experiences from which we must graduate or face the lousy music. New challenges arise in both our professional and personal domains. Adults who lose their job find themselves having to proceed on their own in a relative vacuum without the benefit of mentors, and without any kind of diploma or certificate to show for it. Even those with secure jobs must go through periodic training or professional development, which may seem redundant or pointless.

Many who go through divorce must find the courage and stamina to make themselves feel whole again. When a family member or close friend passes away, there is a mourning period during which we stave off feelings of despair and depression as we begin to turn tears of sadness into smiles of remembrance. We also must face periodic setbacks involving our health, both physical and mental. Those who have undergone major surgery graduate slowly and painfully, but with a keener awareness of human anatomy as well as the awesome technology that repairs our broken parts.

Growing older is another process of graduation, though in a reverse sort of manner. We must learn to do less, to leave things be, and to come to terms with the inevitabilities we have hidden in closets of our consciousness, and to try to see them less like the Grim Reaper and more like old friends in waiting or the conductor on a magic train. It becomes a matter of Faith.

However, the focus during this graduation season must be on students and what they are entering into, especially in secondary schools and colleges. The 8th grader, no longer kingfish in the little pond, will enter the roiling social pot of high school. Ready or not, highschool graduates must consider life away from the hometown womb, often suffering greater anxiety than they let on. For college graduates, there is the daunting “real world” into which they must carry their newly acquired skill sets.

These graduates should be of the greatest concern at this hour in our history. They are the ones who inherit a world in danger on many fronts, much of which is a result of mistakes committed by the previous generations – their parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, educators and religious leaders. You and me. We have delivered unto them the burden of climate change, clean water shortage, and a host of threats to ecosystems necessary for human survival. Beyond the environment, we have seen the national debt grow by trillions of dollars, the flourishing of dictatorships around the world, and the dismantling of our own constitutional guidelines. Technology, especially AI, has progressed much faster than our ability to control it. Perhaps most frightening is that Truth is at risk of becoming irrelevant.

They are inheriting a world of hurt, and it’s time to talk openly with them about it. It’s time to put down the devices, to clear the table of small talk, jokes, and pop culture distractions. At least for a little while, let’s discuss with them something greater than their personal financial future. Take up the greater cause and discuss the future of the country and the world. For us and them, let’s heed the words of the incomparable Michael Jackson and his man in the mirror. “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.”