Grad Day

I don't recall being wild and crazy when I graduated from Wakefield
High in 1994. I know for some people, it was a huge accomplishment,
but for me, there was never any question that I would graduate from
high school. Really, it was just an excuse for a party, and I was
perfectly content with that. Plus, I was glad to not be in high school
anymore. Maybe that's why people are so stoked when they're done. It's
not the accomplishment but the release from the government required
daily schedule.

Today I photographed a graduation. The class of 2007 sat quietly
through the ceremony. No waving to family, no bouncing of a beach ball
through the crowd of blue mortarboards. No one blew any bubbles or
even decorated the tops of their hats with "I'm outta here" or "Thanx
M&D!". This was weird; far too much behaving for a graduating class
celebrating their big day. What, not one guy wearing his tie on the
outside of his gown?

The speaker asked them all to heed her advice. One of her points
included, "Eat right and exercise". Why do you all go to fast food
joints all the time? She asked them. Diabetes and heart disease is on
the rise and you need to be healthier, she said, adding that exercise
should include both cardio AND strength training! This was followed by
a diatribe about how strength training really changed her life.
Weird. You DO know these kids are going straight to KFC to celebrate,
right?  This lecture should have happened four years ago when you
could remind them of this every day they were in your building.

She made some other points, which were all fine. Save money, you could
be a millionaire by the time your 45 if you do it right. (I would have
countered with a little bit of  "you can't take it with you" but, I
wasn't asked to speak). Tell the people in your life that you love
them (always a good rule), etc.

After their hour ceremony, the 449 graduates were filed out of one
section of the convention center to another, hidden from the crowd.
Behind Wizard of Oz's curtain, they were directed to remove their
gowns (rentals, I guess?), return them into boxes, and get in-line to
pick up their actual diplomas.

And they did it. Just like they sat like good little boys and girls
during their ceremony. I am in America, right?  (This is the point
where I remind myself that if they had been obnoxious in some way, I'd
be cursing on about how the world is going to shit and we're raising a
bunch of crummy, disrespectful human beings.)

The de-robed crowd bottlenecked and then expanded into the large lobby
on the convention center where guests met their grads. (This is where
I change directions with this little write-up) I saw a student heading
out to the sea of parents and was taken by him. Walking with a cane,
he moved slowly. His hair was thin and his face puffy. He clearly was
recovering from, or undergoing, cancer treatment of some type. Bone,
perhaps? I wondered what his life is like. Did he wonder if he would
even make it to this day?

To think I was complaining to myself last night about a sore neck from work.