Well....as I promised to you young ladies the requested blog you asked me for. First , once again congrats on your upcoming High School graduation. Enjoy this it only comes once and you will have memories your entire life. This morning on this overcast day I walked along the deserted beach and wondered what I might say. I for one usually disliked graduation speakers even though I have heard ones from a Supreme Court Justice to a photo journalist. All sound similar. I have asked 2 people who I graduated with if they remember who our commencement speaker was at Maple Hill High School in Schodack NY. some 40+ yrs ago. None do including myself. So let me attempt not to say what countless others have said even though I am sure I will.
1. Let me set one thing straight.....I did not graduate with a bunch of Hippies. By 1970 there were few and there never were that many to begin with. We may have had longer hair and may have leaned from a slightly different lifestyle as our parents but as most kids we were more conventional than we would admit. I don't care what one might see on say the History Channel or in the new movie Men In Black3......the yrs of the 60's did not last as long as people remember.
2. I graduated outside in the back of our school as is and was our custom there. Every year they build a platform with stairs that assorted educators and guests sit. It was over cast and people worried we would be stuck in the old gym bld boiling hot. We made it through. Weddings and funerals and graduations all want good weather.....I suspect you will for yours. Trust me it will be fine.
3. If you look {and I have} at graduation stats and trends you will discover that since I graduated in that old yr of 1970 millions less are finishing high school. Not a good trend.....so when you graduate some of the type people I might have graduated with will not be there. Some people that did not have a positive school experience managed to hang in to get some sort of diploma. All hail my generation.......and I am worried about you generation because of those trend lines.
4. By the way speaking of your generation of your graduating class remember this.......you may never see many of those people again. You both as I went through grade school with your class. They will hang out somewhere in your recessed memory. Take a couple of moments........look around and try to look at everyone. As I once said in a blog a couple of yrs ago , one thing I discovered I missed , was knowing that large a number of people for such a long period of time. You may very well not have that sort of extended group of citizens around you again. Even if there is a facebook world of the future. So , even if you did not like them or ignored them or had only a casual passing by , take a quick peek. People deserve that much of a nod after all those yrs.
5. It is stated that I graduated in an angry time in America. True.....the Kent State shootings were only a couple of months before as was the first Earth Day. Our era of protest caused an anger to grow. We were divided along political ,racial educational, demographic lines. Guess what.....we still are. To be honest I believe we are more divided , angry than we have been since Reconstruction. Just remember......this stuff does not keep it's shape. Events morph the wave we ride. Try not to be to shocked 20 yrs from now. As Kurt Vonnegut one of my generations most read authors stated more tan 45 yrs ago......The only thing history teaches us is to surprised all over again.
6. Between final exams and graduation you will be at an odd cross roads......to late to start and to early to finish. Sort of like 10:00 pm at night. So see a couple of friends , get your hair done and be prepared that once graduation is over that place you have spent so much time at is no longer yours. When you leave the parking lot with I presume your parents that is it. You can't go back to that home again. It belongs to the next set of graduating classes. You are now history at that place of education just as I was 42 yrs ago at Maple Hill High School.
7. What you start out as will not be what you are later on. If I could tell many of my classmates of my Human Service part of my life and especially of my yrs as an Educator I think many would be shocked. Hudson Hawk at the head of a classroom full of people doing the teaching and training thing. So you never know. Don't be shocked.
8. My graduating class was......ready.......very white. Yours is less so. Be prepared for a more cultural blending........it is inevitable. Just look at the demographics.
9. I ended up attending my only High School reunion more than 20yrs ago. I am not sure why but a few months later I talked with a buddy on the phone who attended as well. We both discovered we had the same odd emotion. We would be working at our desks , He in NYC and I upstate. An odd feeling would sort of hang over us and we would usually put down our work and daydream about the event and of high school. Sort of like an odd psychological cloud would be there. Mixed emotions. We were both glad that it did not last longer than it did. and dissipated after a time. Such is the power of memory and high school. We will die with those tattoos some where in our consciousness.
10. By the way I received a small academic award at graduation. The VFW Gold Star Mothers Award. I have just remembered that. What a long time ago.
So , I need to wrap this up.......I am sure that I will think of something later I should have said but this is it. After a round of graduation parties I attended with a couple of friends , one of which I still have. Remember it was 18 yrs old drinking age then so I had a few. I arrived back home around 1:30 am. The glow of graduation was still with us. It was a warm June night and the clouds of earlier that evening were gone. It was a star lite sky. I remember noticing as I got dropped off in my driveway. We all shook hands , a final congratulations. I went inside quietly , got quickly into bed. My bed room windows were open. The night seemed quiet and easy. Off in the distance , a car burned rubber from a standing start. We were free to move on.
1. Let me set one thing straight.....I did not graduate with a bunch of Hippies. By 1970 there were few and there never were that many to begin with. We may have had longer hair and may have leaned from a slightly different lifestyle as our parents but as most kids we were more conventional than we would admit. I don't care what one might see on say the History Channel or in the new movie Men In Black3......the yrs of the 60's did not last as long as people remember.
2. I graduated outside in the back of our school as is and was our custom there. Every year they build a platform with stairs that assorted educators and guests sit. It was over cast and people worried we would be stuck in the old gym bld boiling hot. We made it through. Weddings and funerals and graduations all want good weather.....I suspect you will for yours. Trust me it will be fine.
3. If you look {and I have} at graduation stats and trends you will discover that since I graduated in that old yr of 1970 millions less are finishing high school. Not a good trend.....so when you graduate some of the type people I might have graduated with will not be there. Some people that did not have a positive school experience managed to hang in to get some sort of diploma. All hail my generation.......and I am worried about you generation because of those trend lines.
4. By the way speaking of your generation of your graduating class remember this.......you may never see many of those people again. You both as I went through grade school with your class. They will hang out somewhere in your recessed memory. Take a couple of moments........look around and try to look at everyone. As I once said in a blog a couple of yrs ago , one thing I discovered I missed , was knowing that large a number of people for such a long period of time. You may very well not have that sort of extended group of citizens around you again. Even if there is a facebook world of the future. So , even if you did not like them or ignored them or had only a casual passing by , take a quick peek. People deserve that much of a nod after all those yrs.
5. It is stated that I graduated in an angry time in America. True.....the Kent State shootings were only a couple of months before as was the first Earth Day. Our era of protest caused an anger to grow. We were divided along political ,racial educational, demographic lines. Guess what.....we still are. To be honest I believe we are more divided , angry than we have been since Reconstruction. Just remember......this stuff does not keep it's shape. Events morph the wave we ride. Try not to be to shocked 20 yrs from now. As Kurt Vonnegut one of my generations most read authors stated more tan 45 yrs ago......The only thing history teaches us is to surprised all over again.
6. Between final exams and graduation you will be at an odd cross roads......to late to start and to early to finish. Sort of like 10:00 pm at night. So see a couple of friends , get your hair done and be prepared that once graduation is over that place you have spent so much time at is no longer yours. When you leave the parking lot with I presume your parents that is it. You can't go back to that home again. It belongs to the next set of graduating classes. You are now history at that place of education just as I was 42 yrs ago at Maple Hill High School.
7. What you start out as will not be what you are later on. If I could tell many of my classmates of my Human Service part of my life and especially of my yrs as an Educator I think many would be shocked. Hudson Hawk at the head of a classroom full of people doing the teaching and training thing. So you never know. Don't be shocked.
8. My graduating class was......ready.......very white. Yours is less so. Be prepared for a more cultural blending........it is inevitable. Just look at the demographics.
9. I ended up attending my only High School reunion more than 20yrs ago. I am not sure why but a few months later I talked with a buddy on the phone who attended as well. We both discovered we had the same odd emotion. We would be working at our desks , He in NYC and I upstate. An odd feeling would sort of hang over us and we would usually put down our work and daydream about the event and of high school. Sort of like an odd psychological cloud would be there. Mixed emotions. We were both glad that it did not last longer than it did. and dissipated after a time. Such is the power of memory and high school. We will die with those tattoos some where in our consciousness.
10. By the way I received a small academic award at graduation. The VFW Gold Star Mothers Award. I have just remembered that. What a long time ago.
So , I need to wrap this up.......I am sure that I will think of something later I should have said but this is it. After a round of graduation parties I attended with a couple of friends , one of which I still have. Remember it was 18 yrs old drinking age then so I had a few. I arrived back home around 1:30 am. The glow of graduation was still with us. It was a warm June night and the clouds of earlier that evening were gone. It was a star lite sky. I remember noticing as I got dropped off in my driveway. We all shook hands , a final congratulations. I went inside quietly , got quickly into bed. My bed room windows were open. The night seemed quiet and easy. Off in the distance , a car burned rubber from a standing start. We were free to move on.
