Ride in Temp 16'C Wind SE 24 ks
Ride home Temp 24'C Wind SE 33 ks
June 29
CONGRADUATIONS!!
Today was a big day! Here is Sara receiving some cash!
And here is Sara receiving her diploma!
Will the fun never end!??
Do you remember your graduation? Mine? Well it happened in the big bergie church in Winkler. And ... somethin somethin somethin ... some people talked and ... uhhh ... oh yeah ... the other guy (the guy the teachers chose instead of me - you see back in the day at the old GVC the teachers chose the valedictorian based on some kind of a "speech off" between the two of us, and my speech was, I guess, not quite the one they wanted - I don't know. I think I still have a copy of the speech I wrote. I think it was, perhaps, a little too edgy. Maybe a little too honest?) gave the valedictory address.
The point is, who remembers much of this stuff at all? Really! Who of us really cares about it now? Still, on that one day, when you live it, it seems like absolutely the most important day of your life, ever. And later, when you look back on it you think (at least I hope you think) what was all that about? I hardly remember a thing that was important about it. Okay, to be fair, now that I'm writing this I do remember standing outside of the church, after we'd tossed our mortar (Mordor?) boards to the sky, with friends, and then taking pictures, and squinting into the sun, and then getting into cars as quickly as possible with our dates to go to Winnipeg and ... yeah ... not much for safegrads back then.
I tell the kids, if you end up, a few years out of high school, looking back at those years, thinking, "Wow, those were the best of times!" then you should probably re-evaluate what you're doing right now. High school should not be the best of times. Hopefully it's not the worst of times, but it simply can't be best. It can be tolerable, I suppose. Even memorable in some way. But it shouldn't be great! Well, maybe right now it can be, but not later. Not after a few years. High school, like that bad haircut in your grade nine picture, is something you can't wait to grow out of. You can't wait to turn the page.
During the grad banquet, after the ceremony - which was themed "A Night in New York" - someone came by to return a copy of The Catcher in the Rye for Sam, one of the grads. I looked at the book, this version with a lookalike of the original cover - with the carousel horse on it - and thought of Holden and smiled. I said to Margruite and Sara, I hope Sam understands what this means. I got up a few minutes later to find her, and say thanks. When I find her I say, "What a great time to give me the book!" And she says, "Yeah, no kidding eh!" Then we grin at each other and say "See ya." Well, I wanted to go home to give her another 10% on the course just for that.
High school is ironic. High school is a three dressed up as a nine. High school is a place where young people are forced to be with people that they might rather meet and talk to somewhere else, and they have almost no choice but to work with them. ... well I guess that is a little like real life, but ... . Don't misunderstand me, I like my job, and I find it's fulfilling to work to make the experience reasonable for as many kids as possible. But for too many people, high school is ... heavy. I think it's the "one-size fits all" thing that's a problem. And I think we're trying to make it work a little better for more kids. But after a day like today, the best thing is that there are a few more people freed to find something their own size.
1 comment:
You and I, we are much alike. But this is no coincidence. Call me crazy, but I think 2012 is just the turning point in human society before South Korea is going to bomb the United States, and our soil will come under attack once again. This is because people need to wake up and realize that life is just life as it is, and it's really just you that makes that connection with life until all other noise is drowned out and all you can hear is yourself. You. Your voice. Where does it all end though?!
That's the trick though.
It's all a dream. Our waking bodies sit here in wonder with only the web page's constraint's and the world at our fingertips and wonders what he's going to do with life. Is he going to create life anew or sew his own destruction on the world? After a while you start to realize who is sane and who isn't and questioning yourself in this is as pointless as you want it to be, if you would only let it show you the way .
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