MARK BENNETT: The nation should be anxious to see the Class of 2009

By Mark Bennett
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE May 30, 2009 09:17 pm

— If it weren’t for maple trees, I’d be aware of the view from the rooftop of our house.
Their seeds drop and spin like squadrons of helicopters, landing in the roof’s valleys and gutters. My counter attack consists of grabbing a pair of gloves and a lawn bag, climbing a ladder, and yanking fistfuls of seeds from the nooks of the roof. One mother of all maple trees is fine. A thousand of her offspring, sprouting in the gutters, is trouble.
One sweltering afternoon a couple summers ago, I was reacquainting myself with the shingles when my teenage son came home from a ball practice. He spotted his sweaty, dirty dad up on the roof, grinned and waved. Seconds later, I heard footsteps on the aluminum ladder. My son climbed up, stuck his hand into the mucky seeds and started clearing the gutters, right alongside me.
I breathed a deep, grateful sigh, but I wasn’t surprised. He’s always been that way — thinking of others before himself, turning work into fun, being adventurous.
On his first day of school, he climbed onto the bus with a ready grin, like he was on his way to Disney World.
Today, 12 years later, he and hundreds of other young men and women graduate from Vigo County high schools. Before, during and after those commencement ceremonies, they’ll be showered with advice for their future. They’ll hear reminders from their elders that the real world is unforgiving to slackers and underachievers … “always” do this, and “never” do that. Afterward, adults, with visions of skateboards and sagging jeans, will shake their heads and fret about tomorrow in America.
But, today, the people needing words of wisdom are the grownups. To the generations immediately preceding today’s graduates, our Thought for the Day is: Do the right thing. Why turn the focus around? Because kids learn from us, the good and the bad.
Impressively, the Class of 2009 and young America have done a lot of the right things, so far, despite some of the examples they’ve been given.
Last fall, they gave the country a civics lesson by passionately participating in the 2008 election. Previous generations talked about getting out the youth vote, but these kids actually did it. The turnout of teen and twentysomething voters (23 million) was the highest since 1972. Many of them also grew up volunteering in their communities (59 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds, compared to 49 percent of the adult population). Their generation is shouldering a substantial share of the service and sacrifices in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They consider their spiritual faith important. Notably, a Gallup Youth Survey indicated that teenagers’ church attendance mirrors that of their grandparents, and exceeds that of their parents.
By contrast, these young people didn’t create the current economic meltdown by living way beyond their means. They didn’t drive up the divorce rate. They didn’t ignore our growing addiction to fuel from countries that might taunt America into a war.
Those problems seem immense, right now, and today’s graduates will be warned that they’re coming of age in uncertain times. Well, yes, that’s true. But the same could be said for the Classes of 1941, 1969, 1977, 1982, and maybe just about any other. No one ever knows what tomorrow holds.
Instead, the nation should be anxious to see the Class of 2009 joining the “real world.” They’ll bring an understanding of living on less, an appreciation of their community, a sense of civic duty, and some faith. They might also raise the bar for the rest of us, as we make choices in our daily lives.
I can easily imagine seeing my son, someday, on the roof of his house, cleaning the gutters alongside his own kid, who’s been watching everything he does.

Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.

The Tribune-Star asked readers to offer advice to high school graduates from the Class of 2009. With commencement exercises occurring this weekend in Vigo County and other parts of the Wabash Valley, we offer those readers’ perspectives below.