High School Graduation: 2020 and 2023…

     It is mid-May.  A major memory-in-the-making is almost upon us: High school graduation.  It is a personal moment when families and communities honor their children.  As they walk across the stage with pounding hearts and broad smiles, excited students will take their first steps into adulthood.  It is an unforgettable time of brave hopefulness and promise that never loses its magic year after year.

     Three years ago, things were very different.  By May, 2020, COVID-19 had a death grip on the world.  Then, we had no vaccines to fight it, and most people were in lockdown.  As high school graduation approached, it was clear that seniors would not experience first-hand the fun, excitement, and anticipation inherent in this rite of passage.       

      On May 12, 2020, I posted a reflection that began: “This June, all across the country, high school seniors will be graduating just as they do every year. But this year will be different.”  It continued:             

     “There will be no field day with the smell of barbecue rising in the air. No proms with girls, pastel lovely and newly sophisticated, and boys, handsome but slightly embarrassed in their tuxes. There will be no senior pranks; no signing yearbooks; no butterflies as you wait to march to your seats; no inspiring speech from the class valedictorian; no announcement of scholarship winners; and no proud, smiling families sitting in bleachers or auditoriums, waiting expectantly to see their child walk the stage and with outstretched hand claim his or her diploma from the high school principal.”

     For graduating seniors, the loss was painfully real, robbing them of the last carefree vestiges of childhood.  It was also symbolic of the loss all humanity shared: Loss of freedom, control, security, jobs, social contact, hope, stability, the future, and the staggering, mounting loss of loved ones, recorded as numbers in daily statistics.  Crushed and frightened, at first, we did not know how strong we were…and are.

In sharp relief, we saw the selfless courage of doctors, nurses, teachers, postal and sanitation workers and so many others. We experienced outpourings of love in rainbows and chalk messages left everywhere.  We became kinder, more thoughtful, more aware of our feelings, more sensitive to others. We understood how much we need each other.  And we learned that COVID-19 could not break our spirit, our resilience, or our resolve.

      Less than a year later, thanks to brilliant and dedicated scientists, we had vaccines and began to wage war on the virus.  This month, May, 2023, we came full circle. Within days of each other, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. It is still here, so we cannot put it completely in our rear view mirror, but now we have the personal know-how and medical wherewithal to steer clear.  

     “This June, all across the country, high school seniors will be graduating just as they do every year. But this year will be different.”  Those words from 2020 take on a whole new meaning today.  They mark a return to long-awaited normalcy.  Our lives once again belong to us.  Stalwart, optimistic, and propelled by conviction, we have become better people.  

     What a difference three years make.  In 2020, my closing remarks offered hope. Today they are brimming with possibilities:  “You will compare memories at class reunions. You will tell the story of your graduation to your children. You will never forget this time.  And you will move on, knowing that everything is possible, and there is nothing you can’t do.” 

     Congratulations Class of 2023.  The future is yours.  Claim it. Smile.  Live your dreams.