Fraters Libertas

Too Much Pomp Considering The Circumstances

A few observations from my nephew's high school graduation ceremony last Saturday in The People's Republic of Boulder:

- The last high school graduation that I attended was way back in '88 when J.B. Doubtless matriculated (and here you thought he was a GED guy). I seem to recall that in those days the usual protocol was to have a commencement speaker and the class valedictorian address the assembled masses. At this particular ceremony, in addition to the commencement speaker and valedictorian, at least six, perhaps seven other students also rose to speak. And with the exception of one young man who was moderately amusing, the speeches were God awful.

For the most part the delivery was fine (if a bit hurried), but the content was devoid of anything original or in any way the slightest bit thought provoking. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh. It's just that the number of clichés and trite sayings was overwhelming. I felt like I was trapped in a 'Successories' infomercial. The only way I could survive the nearly two hour long ceremony with my sanity intact was to mentally Fisk the speeches. Like shooting fish in a barrel it was.

- If you doubt the accuracy of Michael Barone's characterization of Hard America and Soft America, attend a high school graduation. There were somewhere around four hundred and seventy students in my nephew's class. Forty seven were honored for receiving some sort of special "international baccalaureate" diplomas. Ten percent of the class? That seemed legitimate to me.

Next they asked the honor students to stand. At least 40%, possibly as high as 50% of the class stood. When nearly half your class is made up of "honors" students it sort of loses its meaning doesn't it? I'm sure there are those who wish that "all the kids could be honors students". Unfortunately, that's not the way things work in "Hard America", a lesson that many of these kids will learn the hard way in a few years.

- For some reason I continue to stubbornly cling to the notion that we are at war despite evidence to the contrary that I witness every day. Silly me. There was no mention of the war against Islamist terrorism at all at the graduation. No mention of the challenges that face our country in this struggle now and in the future. No mention of the sacrifices that will have to made, perhaps by some of the men and women in attendance. The closest thing was a passing reference in one of the speeches that, "...some of us will go to college, some of us will join the military..." The same thing could have been said in 2000 or 1995 or 1990.

I realize that graduating from high school is a high point in the lives of these young people and their parents. They're happy and want the focus to be positive and forward looking. But the proceedings struck me as absurdly pre-9/11 in tone. I hate to throw a wet blanket on the celebration, but the reality is that these kids will be entering a very different world than did the class of 2001. Some of the those who are joining the military will likely end up fighting and possibly dying in the war. Even those who do not enter military service will still face the prospect of terrorist attacks (either overseas or at home-possibly involving WMDs) for years to come. They will also have to deal with the economic and political uncertainty resulting from the war. The fight against Islamist terror will be a part of these kids lives, whether they like it or not. Is at least a brief mention of it really that much to ask?

- Finally a question for the fathers of teenage girls out there. What are you thinking when you let your daughter out of the house in an outfit like that? The short short skirts, bare midriffs, and plunging necklines on display at the graduation was unbelievable. And this was a ceremony that started at 10:00am in the morning. It appeared as if most of the girls in attendance did their shopping at Sluts-'R-Us.

Too little clothing and too much skin on women is not a complaint that you run across too often from men, but we're talking about high school girls here. Men are visual beasts and, even if we know that it's not right, our brains are hard wired to respond to such stimuli.

Here's a rule of thumb for the dads out there. Imagine an eighteen year old woman wearing the outfit that your daughter has on. How would you react? Now imagine that all the other men out there are going to be responding the same way to your daughter. Act appropriately.

I realize that you can't watch your daughter at all times and control what she wears. But, as my wife likes to say, you can at least have a say in what she wears when she leaves your house. Try not to make it so easy for her. On behalf of unwitting dirty old men everywhere, I thank you.