A proof of performance
The photograph was carefully posed; staged, really. How else could you explain an image that preceded the real event by months of effort. Obviously, there were hundreds of others, and years of historical record, but this photograph was special.
Yesterday, the youngest son came upstairs and dug out our optical scanner from under a collection of odd papers and other household leavings. He brought the machine with the necessary cables downstairs, sought out and installed the requisite drivers and then produced a digital copy of the one photograph that marks success in the academic world. His graduation picture.
I hadn’t seen the envelope come in the house; my first sighting was on an update notice in Facebook. Parents – not really the intended audience, if you know what I mean. There had to be some underlying pride in the fact that “the universe is unfolding as it should”. Little stress over the papers not yet written, or the tests not yet offered up. Simple pride that high school graduation was a real possibility.
This is the third time I’ve seen one of my children in academic colours. The mortarboard is still anachronistic. The rolled scroll probably says something anonymous, but some day (and that’s the rub), there should be one just like it, personalized.
Now, you can say that this is just the beginning, that there’s years of study to go (a lifetime, actually), but your high school diploma is the only one that society considers as a milestone. The others, whatever their provenance, will be personal, not community, proof of performance.
And so, even though I have seen just a thumbnail view, I also believe.
