C is for Commencement

My beautiful, smart niece graduated from Father Ryan High School this past Sunday.  Resplendent in her purple robe, she was positively beaming in every single picture she was in.  (Check out Facebook - she was in a lot of pictures).    We capped the day with a family dinner where we toasted her accomplishments and shared our favorite silly stories about her.

The graduation ceremony itself was lovely, and the words of her principal struck a deep chord with me. In fact, I leaned over to my sister and whispered "I just figured out my next blog post".   He shared the results of a survey given to parents of high school students in which they were asked - if you could only choose one outcome, would you prefer to see your child successful, happy or good?  Overwhelmingly the parents chose happiness.  At face value that answer makes a lot of sense, but the principal said the results puzzled him as he expected a parent would want a child to be good, first and foremost.  After all, you can be happy but not be good, and yes, you can be good and not be happy.  But if you develop and cultivate gratitude in your life, then being good can and will bring you happiness.    I've thought about his words frequently over the past few days, and it struck me that the happiest people I know are also the most grateful.  It is also telling that those same happy people have faced more than their fair share of adversity, yet gratitude fuels their happiness despite the challenges.

This August my niece will start college in Connecticut, studying to become a nurse.  I think she has the right mix of skills and temperament to be successful in her chosen profession - she is caring, has a steady head and steady hands, and the sight of blood doesn't faze her one bit.  She is an outgoing, vibrant young woman who I believe is happy with herself and excited about the future. And maybe I am biased, but I do think she is good.  For her graduation I gave her a pair of earrings, and now I give her this blog post so that she will always remember the lesson of her commencement, that there is no real happiness without gratitude.  I think she is going to be just fine.