Changes

by Jerry Bullock

Last week I wrote about graduation day. Tonight I was at the Milford High School’s 125th graduation in Milford, Ohio. My grandson, Nathan, walked across the stage and received his diploma. He will be attending Ohio State University in the fall on a Naval ROTC scholarship. My only disappointments were his choice of schools and of services. I say that tongue-in-cheek; I could not be prouder of him than I am.

There were over 400 students in his graduating class. It was a classic, traditional graduation. The processional with “Pomp and Circumstance,” the singing of the Alma Mater, the speech by the valedictorian and the triumphant march across the stage. Four hundred young men and women out to change the world. God bless ‘em and more power to them.

I thought back to my high school graduation almost sixty years ago. The world has certainly changed. I had seen a television set but we did not own one. During WW II I saw a lot of airplanes with two military flying bases in my home town. I saw my first jet aircraft on my high school graduation day. Gasoline was 19 cents per gallon and a new Buick sold for about $2000.00.

We also had the Ten Commandments and prayer in school. I was struck tonight that there was no invocation. In my Dallas high school a course in the New Testament was a requirement for graduation. I started my military career as a junior ROTC cadet in the Army ROTC. The Air Force as a separate service was too new to have ROTC programs.

I guess my class helped to change the world but in so many ways we have made a mess of it. We sang “America the Beautiful” and have let much of it get pretty tacky. I hope this class of 2007 can make a difference. They have certainly got their work cut out for them and I would be hard pressed to tell them where to start. I hope they paid attention to their history lessons and that there was enough of the truth left in them to give the thoughtful student a roadmap of some of the things that they can do to restore America to the foundation upon which she was built.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • Renew your sense of patriotism; see our nation as a cause worth fighting for.
  • Discover the meaning of the word “ethics,” learning to do what is right just because it is the right thing to do.
  • Do not avoid the major issues that we face because they might not be popular.
  • Freedoms are lost behind the veil of euphemisms.
  • Fill your mind with good books; a good place to start is the book of John.
  • Stand for what you believe is right.
Congressman Davy Crocket died with the heroes of the Alamo. In the recent movie on the Alamo he is quoted as telling one of his friends who urged him to leave the lost cause that he (Davy) would be glad to but David Crocket could not. His honor and his confidence in himself were more precious than life itself.