Graduated Thoughts

Sights and sounds from yesterday’s Fordham School of Social Service commencement:

Hundreds of graduates stream in to the pompous approval of a brass quintet and the raucous reactions of a proud crowd. This is pomp and circumstance at its best.

The Dean is leaving the school after thirteen years of service. He receives a standing ovation. Speeches of praise tell of his life well lived. Careful, he’s not dead yet.

A word to speakers – monotony in a speech is broken only by the snores of the audience.

Avery Fisher Hall was acoustically constructed so the intricacies and subtleties of classical music could touch the ear of every audience member. Babbling babies from the other side of the hall are heard by all. No one thinks to step outside with their crying kids. Parents, please silence your children, or, at the very least, put them on vibrate.

We need more “lavish and reckless love”, says Joseph M. McShane, the University President. How true that is.

In the crowd on the way out, a woman threatens her uncooperative child with dismemberment. A sad irony in the presence of hundreds of new soldiers of compassion. And hundreds of new mandated reporters.

Commencement: a fitting word. Graduation is the end. Commencement is the beginning.