A graduation ceremony

      Editor: Dave Uphoff

It has been awhile since I attended a graduation exercise but each time I attend one, I regret not having attended any of my graduations from college. I did not attend my graduation from the University of Illinois because it was such a huge class that I felt that my presence would be insignificant and the ceremony would be much too long. I didn't attend my graduate school ceremony because by then I just wanted to get out of school and get on with my life.

If I had studied at Bethel University I definitely would have attended graduation. The graduation this weekend, was relatively small but very well orchestrated. It was held in the great hall of the college which held probably 1000 people including the 235 graduates from the college of liberal arts and sciences. The graduates marched into the auditorium to a thunderous rendition of "Pomp and Circumstance" played on the pipe organ. I have always loved pipe organ music because it gives such drama and decorum to any event in which it is played.

The faculty and university officials paraded to the front of the auditorium in their ceremonial robes. The university president was the most flamboyant of them all with a red robe and black floppy cap that made him look like an English Beefeater. In a word, the pageantry was great. I think it is wonderful that we still can hold on to these ceremonial traditions as they embody the seriousness and importance of these events.

We had a great vantage point in the balcony near the front and could see the entire auditorium with the graduates all facing towards us. As I viewed all of the robed graduates with their mortar board hats I became flushed with emotion. They looked so innocent and I wondered if they realized the importance of their accomplishments. Do they realize that they represent our future? Do they realize how proud their family is of them? Probably not, because I didn't realize how proud my parents were of me when I graduated.

     Jeanne Uphoff

Then I also wondered if they realized how lucky they were to be able to attend college and get a degree. I think of my father who was an intelligent man but had the misfortune of being a young man during the depression and was unable to continue his advanced education. His generation just wanted to be able to get a job and make enough to feed his family. Opportunities for his generation were far fewer than today's.

I also wondered how many of these graduates will single-mindedly pursue a career without taking time to become involved in their community and strive to make the world a little better place. Do they realize the importance of volunteerism? Do they realize the importance of giving aid to the less fortunate and being tolerant of those who are different? In other words, are they ready to lead our country into a new culture that will require tolerance and adaptation to new ideas as our country receives more immigrants and becomes more intertwined with the rest of the world?

Do these graduates realize they may not be able to achieve the standard of living achieved by their parents because of the increasing exportation of jobs overseas, the crushing burden of out of control medical costs, and the need to support an aging baby-boom generation that will no longer be productive? Do they also realize they have the power to keep our country great because they have the freedom to pursue solutions to these problems? Will they realize that perhaps we do not need a better standard of living as measured by our materialism? Maybe spiritualism will replace the material void.

With the breakdown of the family unit and the declining attendance in our churches, values once taught by those two institutions are no longer learned by our younger generation. It is apparent to me that our schools are more important than ever because the values we need to keep our country great will need to be taught in our schools.

To all you graduates, I congratulate you and hope that you continue your quest for knowledge. You are our future and we depend on you to lead our country. Life is short. Do not waste your energy on bigoted thought and self-centered activities. The more you give of yourself the better you will feel about yourself and the stronger our country will become. If you were as stirred by your graduation ceremony as I was last weekend, I am confident you understand.

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