Tuesday, May 19
This post was provided by Rich Taylor
Congratulations to Graduates
by Rich Taylor
Here we are once again smack dab in the middle of graduation season. Yet something seems different. Yes, our parish is blessed with many young promising people who are graduating from kindergarten to elementary school, from high school to universities, from universities to countless graduate programs, and from those, they are setting out to change the world!
These parish youth are bad... bold... wise... They know how to keep their heads up and keep it together. One thing for sure, they have made and will continue to make us extremely proud!
So why, you may ask, does this year seem so different? It’s because these young people have faced challenges that at their ages, that we couldn’t even imagine. The High School grads were born and grew up in the wake of 9/11. They are graduating in the midst of a devastating pandemic. They had no athletics recognition dinners, proms, graduation parties or formal in-person graduation ceremonies.
At home they taught themselves, calculus, physics and advanced chemistry, and never missed a beat. They stoically and confidently continue striding into the future ready to create new realities for the rest of us.
With all of those accomplishments, you’d think there would be parties and ticker tape parades and balloons galore! Certainly there’d be hugs and gifts and friends dapping them up and telling them how proud they are of the graduates!?!?!
Alas, in the age of covid-19, except for small family gatherings, this is not happening.
As a parish, let’s not allow the current situation to steal these superstars’ thunder! Let’s celebrate them and make sure they know we are thinking about them and have their backs whatever may come in the future. Let’s let all let these heroes know how proud we are that they are our future.
These young people know adversary and have faced it with courage and devotion. In a commencement speech tonight I heard a young lady cite one of my favorite quotes. She quoted James Baldwin saying “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Well, these young folks are no strangers to facing challenges, and I can’t wait to see the world they change!
Graduates, please remember to always be your bad, bold, wise, hard, tough, strong, cool, calm, beautiful selves! You are going to change the world!