This week the Sweet Home High School Class of 2008 says goodbye.
We wish you well.
It’s been an eventful year since we wrote our last graduation goodbye, to the class of ’07.
We’re in the middle of an election that looks like it could have a very significant impact on where the United States will be by the time some of you graduate from college, four years from now.
Gas costs nearly twice what it did when you started school this year. Diesel is getting frighteningly close to $5 a gallon.
By all accounts, we’re in an economic downturn, though it hasn’t shown up that badly in Oregon yet, according to economists.
The question is: Are you prepared for all of this?
If you’ve been paying attention, you should be.
Most of you have been taught, either at home or at school, some key characteristics to being successful in life. We’ve talked about them before in this newspaper, particularly in a story we ran earlier this year about the Positive Behavior System used in local schools since most of you were in fifth or sixth grade.
You are, no doubt, familiar with the three key elements: respect, safety and responsibility.
It seems so simple and yet following those guidelines will serve you well as you depart.
You’ve gotten through the tumultuous years of junior high and survived high school’s ups and downs. You’re now ready to move on to higher education or to employment of some sort.
If you respect others – particularly those in positions of responsibility over you — if you avoid doing stupid and unsafe things, and if you are responsible in any other ways not covered by the above, you will be in pretty good shape for the world you’re about to enter.
There is one other critical element that overlaps the three above in some ways, but is really worth considering as a separate characteristic that we would encourage you to strive after: commitment.
It’s something that historically has been part of the fabric of America, but seems to be declining both on a personal level as well as a national level.
People don’t stay the course these days like they used to. Yes, we often make promises and then get so busy we either forget them or are unable to follow through as we intended. But it goes further than that.
One really obvious example is the state of marriage today. Take a look at today’s graduation issue inside this paper and notice how many of your fellow graduates hail from fractured families. We’re not here to point the finger in some self-righteous way because there are a lot of reasons why some of these families are broken up. But the numbers tell the story. There are a many, many broken families and in many cases, they stem from a lack of commitment.
On a national level, our politicians tell us one thing and do something else. Of course, that’s not new, but it seems to be getting worse. It would be nice to believe everything the presidential candidates are trumpeting, but maybe we’re just a little too cynical for that.
How about this Iraq War? Yes, it stinks. It’s putting us in debt that we’ll be paying off for generations. It’s caused us to lose face on the international front. It’s cost us dearly in lives of our young people. So, should we stay the course? Our politicians and our people are getting cold feet. We want out. Problem is, the job’s not finished and it’s probably not going to be for a long time. So do we show commitment, like our forefathers did when World War II got nasty, or do we bail?
These are hard questions, but they are the kinds of issues you need to be ready to face as you set sail. Are you going to be a person of integrity, responsibility, commitment – someone who will make us all proud?
We hope so.
May God bless each and every one of you as you go forth and conquer whatever mountain you find before you.