Graduation Day

My daughter graduated from the University of Michigan yesterday. It must be a really powerful in institution of higher education and held in the "highest" esteem: It rained in the morning and skies were heavy with a solid overcast of threatening rainclouds throughout the ceremonies, yet not a drop fell.

A lot of people had or will have children graduate from colleges this year. Fortunately, most of those graduates will leave their college experience a little older and a whole lot wiser about who they are, where they're headed, and what constitutes a responsible adult. Most, but not all.

As for me, I've been incredibly fortunate in that my daughter has managed to keep her paddles in the water. Even through a squall or two she has managed to maintain her forward momentum and has now reached the other side of that big pond. She did all the work and, somehow, I feel pretty satisfied with that-- as if it were I that was just now graduating.

In a way, it is we as parents, role models, financers of education large and small, we parents who rightfully feel a deep sense of satisfaction at this milestone. And it's a well deserved sense of satisfaction: I look around every day and I see potential that has been untapped, unappreciated, misappropriated and I feel sad for those who cannot or will not take advantage of their personal intellectual resources.

Like my daughter, I had good fortune on my side: My parents never told me I had to go to college. My parents never told me what career I had to pursue. My parents told me only this: You have an obligation to do your best. You have the great good fortune to be in possession of a healthy body and a capable mind. You have a duty to put them to good use. My daughter has certainly taken that advice to heart. In her short life she has successfully crossed puddles, streams, and now a big pond.

Note to daughter: There is still a large river that lies ahead. If you can successfully navigate its rapids, eddies, and falls you will find yourself sailing confidently and contentedly on the ocean of life.

Congratulations and full speed ahead!