Get ready. It’s not what you think.
I was actually the one who chose our high school commencement speaker, The Honorable, Norman Krivosha, Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court. I had seen him speak at a youth Government day at the state capitol, and I had been impressed, so I approached him and he said sure.
My success was overshadowed by my most memorable high school event that was linked to graduation. It happened the year previous when the graduating Seniors kidnapped the school mascot, a 6’ tall orange tiger suit, In a reenactment of the Patty Hearst kidnapping, (Google that) they then showed their seriousness by cutting one ear off the tiger (J. Paul Getty) Google that too. and sent it to the Principal with a dozen comedic demands and a 48 hour deadline.
The Principal of Hastings High School was so cool he actually met one of the demands by wearing a rival’s football jersey to the trade. There was a parade of cars packed with Seniors that pulled up to the front doors of the high school to make the exchange.
As you may now have guessed, nothing of national importance, let alone global importance happened during my, or many of my friend’s senior years in high school.
But for the senior year of 1942, the graduating class didn’t include any Japanese American students as they were being forcibly detained by the US government in internment camps. It also didn’t include many students who put their country above an education and left high school early to join the armed forces. Most didn’t even graduate or get a diploma until they were in their 70’s. Proms were canceled and commencements were small as many left immediately for the army. Almost all of the those 18 year old graduates were fighting and dying within 6 months of Commencement. The world now refers to the class of 1942 as ‘The Greatest Generation’.
The Graduates of 1969 were numbed by the previous 12 months that included the very public assassinations of the leading Presidential Candidate, Robert Kennedy, and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King. There were bloody riots in almost every American city, and at the Democratic Convention in Chicago when then Mayor Richard Daley instructed the Police to rough up protesters. Famous 1969 Grads include the likes of Elijah Cummings and Robin Williams.
Four students were missing from a Colorado high school commencement in 1999, Isaiah Shoels, Lauren Townsend, (one of the Valedictorians of the class), and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who just 32 days earlier had stormed the school and killed 12 fellow classmates, a teacher, and then themselves.
Graduation speaker Sara Martin summed up the feelings of the graduating class, ”Because of what occurred on April 20th, I must recognize what I have learned: to love deeply and to appreciate every word and every gesture and every person I love or will love."
And of course, ask the Seniors of 2002 how they felt trying to have a normal and joyous commencement experience while they and the nation were experiencing real PTSD.
So I’ll put this delicately, (no I won’t) . . . you’re all missing the point.
Have you ever seen an incredible event on TV that you so wished you could have experienced in real life? Wouldn’t you have loved to have your heart pound as a hot shock wave hit you in the chest and you felt the earth tremble under your feet while you watched a 36 story tall Saturn 5 rocket leave the earth for the moon? Wouldn’t you have loved to have been squished and jostled by a quarter million people on the Mall in Washington during the hot summer of 1963 as a deeply melodic Martin Luther King told you he had a dream?
See, I have a problem with people today who go to an airshow, or visit the Grand Canyon, or go to their kid’s recital and stick their heads in their phones to get the very best photograph or video. They are, literally, watching those events through a television screen and not experiencing them in real life. It’s a shame.
I also point out to you that the act of focusing more on the video production than the recital is not only robbing yourself of the real life experience, but it is a singularly egocentric act disregarding any other people involved, including your child. Tai Chi says there are no common moments, so be there in the important ones. Be there.
So as the class of 2020, I fear what you may be doing, by focusing tightly on the camera screen of your own unfairness in life, is missing entirely the opportunity to live through history, as we are.
Yes, you may miss out on some fun times, but the most fun and powerful times of your high school career you’ve already lived through, and I guarantee if your actual graduation party happens next year, or even in 2022, you will have a better time than you would have this year. You’ll form stronger bonds and have more in common after a year or two starting your adult lives. Don’t worry, there will be some great memorable events, you’ll work it out.
I firmly believe that adversity builds character, and living through history binds you to the moment and the people. Questions like, ‘Where were you during 9/11?’ will be replaced with ‘What was it like during the Pandemic?’ When your child and grandchildren ask you that question, do you really want to reply with ‘we missed our graduation’?
The real answers and experiences begin with the tens of thousands of deaths. More than the Vietnam war. More than 9/11, both 737 accidents, TWA 800, and all of the school shootings ever, combined. All in just the last two months.
This is going to happen again, and how you view it, live through it, reflect on it, and plan for it the next time will determine your future as an adult, a parent, and possibly a patient.
We have just experienced a time warp that sent traffic and pollution back to the forties. The atmosphere cleared up and visibility increased to infinity. The air is fresh and smells like spring. Wildlife has returned to areas of encroachment, seas cleared up, and you could see fish in Venice, Italy. The future is yours, Graduates. How would you like it?
Where is the line of priority? Is it in reducing deaths, or re-opening the economy? How will you act when even greater adversity awaits you and your family in the next decade, and was the time you had to digest this new reality helpful to you when you encounter life changing events in the future?
Take notice, not of your pain, but the pain of others. Serendipitously and reluctantly, like the Seniors in 1942, 1969, 1999, and 2002, you are experiencing the times that will truly shape you. These challenging times will determine who you become as an adult like no other year in your life, if you don’t miss it.
Don’t squander the opportunity of your lifetime to grow and make history because you’ve got your head stuck in your phone.
All you have to do is look up.
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