Saturday, May 30, 2020

At noon today my younger son will graduate from college. Meanwhile, rioting erupts around the nation. The so-called president foments violence. The pain and terror and cruelty that have always existed, that have always been visible, vibrate in lurid technicolor. And at noon today my younger son will graduate from college.

We stand on sand.

I love my son so much, and am so proud.

This is an impossible moment.


2 comments:

nancy said...

Yes. I've been trying to come up with a last message for my seniors, and it is really difficult. Your words made me think back to my parents' thoughts 50 years ago, when Nixon was president and my brother was 18, graduating from high school and facing the draft. What went through their minds as they watched (in black and white) as riots spread in city after city? When they saw the (now iconic) photo of the Kent State shootings? What heartache did they feel (and fear) for him? My dad spoke at my brother's baccalaureate, but I don't remember his words. I wonder if he mentioned sacrifice, because in retirement, my brother is now running a food pantry, even though it means giving up being within six feet of his grandchildren. (I have not made that same sacrifice.) What do I say to these kids who are 18 and wondering where their safe, predictable world went?

David X. Novak said...

"[R]ioting erupts" may prove to be a mischaracterization. It's beginning to look like something more sinister is going on.