Good Earthkeeping, by Tasha Halpert –
My first graduation ceremony was when I finished the ninth grade, the limit I could reach at the small private school I attended. There were nine of us in the class, and we were all going on to different places to further our education. My next was the high school I attended in Boston, where I stayed with my grandmother during the week, traveling home on weekends to the small seaside town where I grew up.
I left college to get married and so did not graduate from anywhere else in a formal way. However I have devoted my life to learning and growing in the various disciplines I have chosen. In certain respects I have graduated from different phases of my life. For instance, Stephen and I ran a center for inner peace for many years in Grafton until it was time to leave that behind and focus more on our writing.
Stephen and I have a granddaughter who is finishing four years of college. She will graduate next year because she has chosen to stay on for an additional degree. Almost every day I see in the local papers lists of names of those who have received degrees and honors of one sort or another as they graduate from their high schools, colleges or universities.
Graduation means moving from one state or stage of life to another. As well, the term graduation can be applied to those who have passed from this life to the next. In dying they leave behind all they have learned and done to go on to a new phase of existence. People have described the next stage of life in various ways. However, seen purely as a metaphor, graduation seems like an accurate description of the process known as dying and moving on.
Recently, Stephen and I went to a wonderful graduation ceremony. The graduate was a man of many talents and interests and the church where the service was held was filled with his cherished family, friends and acquaintances. He had lived a full life with many accomplishments. He had served his country, his town, his family, and his friends effectively and honorably. In addition he himself was always learning, growing, and passing on the knowledge he had gained, to be of help to others. His legacy to all was a fine example of an honorable life.
When I graduate I feel it will not be enough simply to have lived for myself. I hope to have lived my life as he did in a way to be of help to others. I wish to be mindful of any opportunities that arise to feed someone who is hungry or to show up when and where I am needed. Nor is it enough for me to practice my art for my own pleasure, it behooves me to share it for the enjoyment of others. Most of all, to graduate with honor means I have done the best I could to set a good example, leaving behind a body of work that is complete and moving on to learn and grow anew.
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