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Category: Education / Topics: Birthdays & Annivesaries Education Memories

High School Graduation (revisited)

by Greg Asimakoupoulos

Posted: June 13, 2010

Poetic reflections on a timeless rite-of-passage…

In June of 1970
I clasped that parchment. Wow!
The world back then was so unlike
the way it is right now.

And yet some things seem locked in time
just as they were back then.
Take graduations from twelfth grade...
It's like it's always been.

The names are read while graduates
arrayed in gown and cap
parade across a high school stage
while parents cheer and clap.

With cameras focused on their child
each mom and dad express
a sigh of joy and some relief.
Their kid has claimed success.

Not much has changed in 40 years.
Commencements are the same.
There's Pomp and Circumstance and then
how speakers place the blame

on world events like oil spills,
or inner-city crime,
political shenanigans,
how unemployment climbs.

They rail against the way life is
encouraging the grads
to challenge what the culture boasts
like fleeting trends and fads.

But how much of what speakers say
is heard by those in gowns?
My hunch is most of what is said
resembles senseless sounds.

And yet I'm not all that perturbed.
These seniors soon will see
just what it takes to change the world.
That's how it worked for me.

A year or two away from home
at college or a job
will find these grads in "learning mode"
and calling out on God.

* In June 1970 I graduated from Wenatchee High School in North Central Washington State. I look forward to attending my 40th class reunion this summer.



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Greg Asimakoupoulos (pronounced AWESOME-uh-COPE-uh-less) is an ordained minister, published author and chaplain to a retirement community in the Pacfic Northwest. Greg maintains a blog called Rhymes and Reasons, which he graciously provides to SeniorLifestyle.

Greg's writings have now been assembled in book form. See the SeniorLifestyle Store.

E-mail the author (moc.loa@veRemosewA*) Author's website (personal or primary**)

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Posted: June 13, 2010   Accessed 111 times

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