A brave new world

It’s that time of year. Local high school kids are celebrating their graduations. Every time I look on social media the past week or so I keep coming across graduation pictures. There’s one of a mom and dad and the man or woman of the hour. Gotta get one in there too of grandma or grandpa. It’s fun to see.

It reminds me why I love this time of year. Three big reasons:

–Hope. Oh, hope is a powerful thing. It’s fun to see the graduates walk down the aisle and to see the great things they’ve accomplished and to imagine the even bigger things they’re going to achieve in the future. Maybe one will become a local carpenter, teacher or doctor? But who knows, maybe another will find a cure for cancer? The sky is certainly the limit.

–Killing off the Cliques. I’ve noticed with my own experience and my kids that something happens in the final months of high school. Kids start to drop the high school cliques that play such a huge part of the school experience. They start to see that they need each other. The jock talks to the nerd in line to pick up their yearbook. The drama queen ends up walking side by side with the video gamer. If real life has any benefits, it’s that it sends the cliques scurrying for cover. In the final weeks leading up to graduation, kids become adults and hopefully realize that we’re all more alike than we are different.

–What’s next. Author and speaker Norman Vincent Peale once wrote: “The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” I like to think of it another way. No one is more powerful than a person with a vision. Jump on the bandwagon and let’s see where the class of 2025 takes us.

Let’s go!