P.S. I have opinions

My brother graduated from high school today. I'm really proud of him and the rest of Memorial's class of 2009. That said, the usual graduation cliches repeated in every single speech (Cherish your friends! Follow your dreams! Make the world better! Help those in need! You have done so much! Life is the journey! You will all be shining stars of great specialness!) caused me great distress. I have lately become more aware of how lucky it is for these kids to have gone through high school in a city where the public schools are so very good. Many, many of those who graduated will be going on to college, and have grown up in environments where it's a matter of course, to the point where, five years ago, a friend of mine had great difficulty convincing one of the guidance counselors that despite her fabulous grades she really did WANT to go to the local technical college instead of aiming for a four-year university. The kids who come out of schools in Madison are miles ahead, in that respect, of many of the people I have met since leaving high school, both in other countries and this one. I wish someone, anyone, had mentioned that, had pointed out that the kids sitting in front of them were among the most privilaged in the world.

I also wish someone had mentioned the JMM student who was shot last week, Karamee Collins. Ignoring the fact that his death was a crime, and that there may have been many, many factors leading to it both longterm and shorterm, societal and individual - ignoring all that, this kid still went to that school and was a part of the community, and his death was a loss that should be acknowledged even, especially, in such a moment of triumph as today's. At my high school graduation, a nod was made to students who should have been there but were not: the boy who killed himself freshman year, the students who died in a car crash the summer before. Why wasn't that done today? While it should not be a challenge to live until you graduate, it sometimes is - and I firmly believe that should be acknowledged even as you celebrate having made it that far.