College Graduation: Proof That America Is Okay

I attended the graduation ceremonies at North Georgia College and State University the other day, and I'm always impressed ... maybe touched is a better word ... at the families and their students and all the excitement ... the sense of accomplishment ... the obvious pride. In recent years I've attended graduations at Brenau, Georgia Tech, the Medical College of Georgia ... some others, and I cannot for the life of me tell you who spoke. Tom Murphy spoke at the north Georgia College event, but I'll probably not remember that a year from now.

But there is no way one can forget the students and their families. Not individually, maybe, but the whole atmosphere of the place. It was hot at North Georgia, but families were there and milling around, some an hour or so ahead to time. Graduates to-be with gowns over their arms, introducing friends to family. And the picture taking, with the gowns on, right out there in the hot sunshine. Graduation from college represents a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work. It is the kind of event that should be recorded, and pictures should be sent to friends and family.

Sometimes I worry that America may be losing its work ethic, losing its intense desire to see the next generation better educated than ours. Then I go to a college graduation, and the though runs through my head: we're okay. So long as we have youngsters, and their parents, paying the price to graduate from college, we're okay.

This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/5/178414