Keeping an Open Mind

We are back home after a week of traveling parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.  We missed all of the rains in Oklahoma and the floods that became part of that experience.  All was fine where we live except the grass had grown to unnatural heights.

While in Memphis, we attended a high school graduation with 500 plus students.  The pomp and circumstance parade seemed endless.  It was held in a multiplex building that was filled to capacity.  It was massive.  

I have always been interested in graduation speeches but was stunned with the quality of the Principle and Superintendent of the school.  Both looked to me to be "experienced" and that this was not their first rodeo.  Neither of them knew how to use the microphone.  The Principle was barely audible.  How disappointing!  The Superintendent was trying to be inspiring by using Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as examples.  Glory be!  They are the "has beens."  I wanted to stand up and tell him to get current and get with the program.

I will say that when one of the staff members gave a report on the total amount of the scholarships received, the amount was way over 40 million dollars.  That was very impressive.  

Since every student was named in the diploma processional, I decided that the only way to get through the process was to get interested in the names they all had.  At one point, we all decided that the parents couldn't spell properly.  Looking at the names and hearing the roll call were two different things.  I wondered if the parents even thought of the fact that the names they gave their children would follow them the rest of their lives.  No wonder some of us apply for the name change.

I am sure that some people look at my name and wonder...  My father spelled my name incorrectly on my birth announcement.  Maybe that is what happened to some of the names like T'Roderick, Termarree, Erykah, TreAnna Ciera, Teal Marie (that's kind of pretty) RoDaisha Shir'Lesia, Marquicio, Ciquoiah along with Marilynn, Allyson, Shuyi, and Jalen.

This whole experience was a bit of an adventure.  I kept having to remind myself to be accepting rather than judging.  I guess all of this is about making life interesting.  What's happening in your world?