GRADUATION

           It’s that exiting, fun time of the year for a number of our young people.  School is winding down except for the dreaded final exams.  Proms are happening and graduations are being prepared for across the country.  Times of change.  Times of commitment.   

            A lot of these young people will be looking at their last summer of freedom to spend with friends they’ve known since they were but single digit ages.  Others will struggle with how to keep relationships of a more romantic leaning alive over the distances some of them may travel to continue their education.  Life can get complicated.

            Scores of these graduates will be entering the work force for either the first time or will be moving from a part time position to a full time slot,  hoping to make enough dough to support themselves in “the real world.”

            I remember when Jerry and I were at that point in our lives.  The Viet Nam War shadowed so many choices that had to be made.  The draft was in full swing and young men in college were easy pickings as well as those in non-essential jobs.  Some were able to change their career choices to try to avoid the draft, some were drafted and were given the option to learn other skills and some, well, some just never made it back home.  For most of us, if we really wanted one, a job was out there for us.  I came home each week with my take home pay of about $40.00 and feeling like I was rich.

            A lot of us did manage to get through school if we could find a way of affording it which for many, were those jobs we had.  Some who went right into the job market found that there was the opportunity available to succeed if one tried.  Technology opened up new prospects that we had never dreamed of, giving us many new career choices for both men and women.  We started families, settled down, hoped for the future, just like our parents did before us.

            Today’s young people will face the burden of a poor economy, high unemployment and staggering tuition costs.   Leaving high school will not be analogous to “spreading your wings;” it will be more like “throwing you to the wolves.”  I believe each generation has had obstacles to overcome in order to make it in this world but that doesn’t make it any easier for the next one coming up.  They have their own tough decisions to make.  Being realistic is a hard road for ones so young.  Let’s remember what roads we took and the consequences we suffered and give them some slack.  Life has never been about just black and white reality; there’s gotta be a rainbow of dreaming and hope tagging along.

            All the best to those of you who are starting this new road in your life and a special thanks to your parents and family members who have and will continue to encourage you to keep trying.  Learning never stops; we do it until the moment we stop breathing.  Do both for a long, long time!

Sharon