Congratulations, Konner!

We returned to McCarran International Airport last night after having flown to Billings, Montana, for Konner’s high school graduation last Monday. It was a most impressive affair befitting a most impressive young man. I was trying to remember just when such events lost their solmenity, and although I can’t pin down a date, I’m guessing it coincided with the loss of reverence for just about everything. We Boomers were groomed for conformity, no doubt an explanation for our rebellious adolescence. Nonetheless, there was nothing allowed to decorate the top of our mortarboard and possession of an air horn would probably have meant jail time. It would be hard to say which way is best. Ritualistic tradition isn’t very meaningful, but neither is a party-animal mentality that hoots and hollers at everything. I haven’t seen this kind of behavior at a funeral yet, but I’m guessing that it’s coming. Konner graduated with honors, as did many of his classmates, and to an old-timer like me a bit of decorum, a bit of dignity and respect, certainly would have been in order. That was then, however, and this is now. The hope will be that treating every occasion as if it were a sports event is secretly pointing to a new degree of respect and support among peers that only appears to be rude. That’s the hope.