On Wednesday evening, a friend and I volunteered to serve refreshments at the fifth grade graduation. Because we tend to have everything under control at all times, we decided to sit in on a bit of the graduation entertainment. (Kids were dancing and singing and making me cry. Nothing out of the ordinary, really.)
The guest speaker this year was Jahidi White, who attended elementary and middle school in our district and then went on to play in the NBA with Michael Jordan, who just so happened to be Jahidi’s biggest inspiration. Mr. White was a TOWER OF POWER on the stage as he encouraged kids to not give earplay to anyone who discourages them from following their dreams. His most important advice? Dream BIG! (He asked the fifth graders to chant “Dream BIG!” during his speech. I loved that, mainly because when a 6’9″ man stands on a stage and tells you to dream big, you just sort of want to do it. Starting now.)
And that’s when things got confusing and hilarious and I started doing the ugly cry—not because of Fiddler on the Roofesque ruminations about seedlings turning overnight to sunflowers and blossoming even as we gaze, but because our motivational speaker may have just encouraged 65 fifth graders to join the Wu-Tang Clan.
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I like where your mind goes. Our minds could meet up there.
All parades make me cry. That includes parades of kids in line for graduation. Ugly cry. Every time.
That should have been a consideration before I chose my career as a college professor.
At what point to we encourage kids to be realists though? Dreaming is great, but most kids aren’t going to be professional rappers or athletes. I wish I’d been taught more about the world and money and working for a living when I was younger and having to make those decisions. (Sorry. Not trying to rain on your positivity parade. Just sitting at my desk at a job I hate.)
I believe you just drew a picture of my husband.
Thank you for the explanatory cartoon. Ghost face? Is going to have me laughing for hours.
Ha! I love it and will be giggling about Ghostface dreams for days.
PS – I know you closed comments for the last post, but I would love to hear more from you on the “‘society hates women’ hahahah, not really!” tip. Because I really think we’ve got some problems there that are real, but you always make sense to me…so would love to hear your thoughts. Will not be offended if you delete this ’cause I’m kinda breaking the rules.)
PPS – That also looks like my husband! but he’s only 6’6″
HAhahahaha…this is a really funny post!
Oh and Happy Birthday! Good luck with the cleanse. I just did the fat flush water. Didn’t flush anything, but it tastes really good and it’s healthy.
Wait until you find you weep at Hallmark commercials. That’s embarrassing.
Love “ghostface”. Thanks for ‘splaining it.
I didn’t even question Ghostface. Who’s dream list is Wu-tang NOT on?