Tonight, Elliot was graduating from kindergarten. Instead of calling it a graduation ceremony, they coined it as a “promotion ceremony.” At first, I thought it was a bit weird calling a graduation ceremony as a promotion ceremony, but then I gave it some thought.
One of the definitions of “promotion” in The American Heritage Dictionary is: “encouragement of the progress, growth, or acceptance of something.” In some sense these kindergartners did not really graduate from anything. They are just starting off in a life-long journey of learning. From that perspective, calling it a promotion ceremony makes more sense. We constantly need to hear the encouragement of progress, growth and the acceptance of responsibility. How else are we going to grow? This growth is not only in the physical sense, but also in the spiritual sense.
It is sad to see many people who do not have someone in their lives to help “promote” them. This is why so many of us are stuck in a rut. We end up settling for mediocrity and we start getting comfortable. The “path of least resistance” is the desired road when there is no challenge in our lives. I pray that all of us have someone that is constantly “promoting” us.
Even though Elliot was “promoted” to the next stage and level of learning, there is a whole world of learning that is awaiting him. It is exciting that I will be able to help navigate him through it all. For Elliot the bottom line was – “When do I get to eat the dessert?!”
Here are some pictures:
The Center of Attention
The whole family