It’s high school graduation time in Borlänge. Seems to be a
bigger deal here than the States, or maybe I’m just out of touch. My own was a
simple ceremony took place in the gymnasium with parents in attendance . . . a boring speech
by the principal as we stood impatiently in gowns and mortar boards on our
heads. But that was many years ago.
Here it seems a wildly enthusiastic occasion. Parents and
relatives do not go inside to witness whatever happens there. They wait on the
campus lawn, many holding posters with photos showing those awaited as babies,
or early childhood.
When the ceremony’s over graduates come running out in yachting
hats and are adorned with all kinds of silly gifts, stuffed animals and such.
They wear the hats for a week after and ride in groups aboard flat bed trucks,
shouting and having a great time of it. Others cruise the city streets in cars,
honking and yelling. One such passed me downtown yesterday, behatted kids
leaning out the window shouting, “Freedom!”
Ah, but could we elders gain that blessed naivety again.
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