Pomp and Circumstance

I attended graduation ceremonies yesterday for two of the local high schools in my community.

There was pomp.
There was circumstance.
There were cliched-laden speeches and funny moments where the graduates were led into the wrong rows by their teachers.
There were 614 names called at the first one, and 585 at the second.
There were stupid decisions by those in charge who, because of the rain, had the students try to meet their family and friends in the concourse of the arena instead of outside--which only led to grads not being able to see their friends of find their family members (because students cell phones had been confiscated previous to the ceremony).
There was celebration.
There were smiles.
There were hugs.

Sometimes I think we, as a society, don't celebrate often enough...or well enough for that matter. And this is a milestone worth celebrating, if you ask me.

Which is why it bothered me that the principal at one of the schools, ON FOUR DIFFERENT OCCASIONS, mentioned the amount of scholarship money the class (in two cases, the dollar value of a student's college scholarship).

There are other times and places to pat yourself on the back for a job well done...and nobody's denying the job well done. Like the annual senior awards day. Do it then.

But reserve the money aspect for that occasion. Under the circumstances, it looked very pompous.

And, oh yeah...Mr. Principal, maybe you should read this op-ed article from the Dallas Morning News on how worthwhile those dollar amounts truly are. Maybe character and creativity (both of those were a bit short in your remarks and the remarks of the speakers, too) should get a little more play.

Don't mess with me on Day 4 of the Funk.