Graduation 2008

It's over.  The screeching halt I know is coming, came today.  So many beloveds I saw in passing; so many I did not see.  People I didn't get to meet, like Beth H's friend, Michael T.  Congratulations to you all.  You have cleared an important hurdle in life.  Parties and conversations and surreality.  How wonderful to be caught up in it and how strange it is, the suddenness with which it ends and life continues, seemingly uninterrupted.

I looked out over the green sheen of gowns and mortarboards, the blackness that always hovers in the walls of the Erwin Center, the faux and real tropical plants, Paige A. wanting to join the choir but not seeing a segue to do so without interrupting, the administrators who have sat through their third graduation in as many days, the impersonal slide show that I wanted to ask them to stop because it was so canned...and I realize, graduation isn't for the students.  I suppose it is for your families, but it certainly isn't for you.  You've already checked out, looked beyond, been struck by the reality of the ending time as you know it.  You've already outgrown this whole scene, and it is simply a formality to "graduate."  But sometimes we need formality.  Sometimes you need to be disallowed chewing gum, flip flops, and your opinion.  Some times you just need to do something because it would help someone else process what is happening to you.  And that seems to be my translation of this experience.  

Thank you, one and all, for the abundant beauty and hope you've graciously given me.  I love each of you and hope for you all the love and peace in the world.  Go and do some good.

Godspeed you on your way.