Graduation Suffocation

Being at a younger sibling's high school graduation made me feel old! Although I should have been consoled by the fact that there were plenty of highschoolers who looked older than me- wait, no I shouldn't have...

This was yet another opportunity for sister rivalry-contention to set in and prevent me from enjoying the ceremony. Sometimes I feel so immature. Why am I perfectly capable of acting kind and giving and caring and decent to people I am acquainted with yet find it difficult to show consideration for certain members of my own family?

Because I hate spot light takers, attention getters and the overly confident because they represent something I don't have the courage to obtain? Perhaps...

The highschool that my sister and I attended is like highschool for victims of brain steroids. All the students are too smart-- they are taught to be free thinkers to the extreme, they all find a way to be creatively expressive and they all think they each have a unique "philosophy" of life at the age of 14. This year there were six Valedictorians with 4.0 cummulative G.P.A.'s.

The event was a good chance for me to reminisce about the things that I miss from highschool. It was a good reminder of how excellent the school system here is- for which I am very fortunate. It was also a time to remember the stifling environment of highschool on an isolated island.

Each of the four student speakers in the ceremony used big words that I didn't know and expressed super reflective thoughts on policy, philosophy, humanity, and the meaning of education-- all with great eloquence. I felt like a dunce. At lease the Mayor came up to me afterward to tell me she liked my hair or I would have walked away from a complete blow to my self confidence.

(below: Me with grandma- one of my top most insirational people)