Tonight Tim and I went to Kristin's graduation ceremony. I counted 340 kids in the program.
They did all the usual things. They had choirs, they had the band, they had 14 valedictorians (all with perfect 4.0s), they recognized the foreign exchange kids, they had speeches and they processed.
The main speech by their principal was a rah-rah go out and conquer the world speech that sounded pretty good until further reflection.
She encouraged them to never surrender, never give up, never compromise.
That sounds all well and good when you're talking about your own personal values and your stance against personal things, but that's not how she phrased it.
It felt more like she was saying don't listen to the other side. The Republicans are wrong. Or, if you are a Republican, then the Democrats are wrong. Never surrender. Never compromise.
What the hell kind of thing is that to teach our children. What ever happened to things like "share" and "turn the other cheek" or "working for the common good". Are we too anti-everything-not-us now that we don't dare ever compromise? How is any committee ever going to get anything done?
I don't like where these kinds of thoughts are headed. What do you think?
So, congrats Kristin! 12 years in the making! Stand up for what's right but know that you can't always have it your way. Sometimes you'll have to work with others instead of working on them. But you knew that. Now, go out and make the world a better place…
