As a school board member and a parent of a graduating eighth grader, I�ve been asked to speak at graduation next Thursday night. It feels so pompous to get up there and tell those young teens the meaning of life. I never been able to decode the meaning of life. I figure I�m doing well when I can decode my shopping list.

I started writing my speech several times but I�ve gotten no where. The first attempt involved the theme �Don�t let school interfere with your education.� That motto was one I held dear in high school and college. Don�t misunderstand. I got good grades. It�s just that I got them with as little work as possible so I could go off and do things that really interested me. Even though the motto served me well, I figure that imparting it to a bunch of soon-to-be-entering high school freshmen in a high achieving suburb would get me lynched. At the very least, it might hinder my re-election and, despite swearing I�d never run again, I find myself wavering.

My second attempt was no better. It told them they should all remember that they were all special. That sentiment seemed safe enough until I remember the time that I walked into the living room to hear Day-Hay tell Mr. Rogers, �I don�t want to be special. If everybody�s special, what�s so special about being special?� I thought it was profound then and I still think it�s profound. I�m not enough of a politician to lie to all those shiny faces.

So the search for a theme continues. Perhaps I can take a page out of the book of the congressguy who spoke at my college graduation. He spoke for an hour about agricultural reform but I don�t remember a word he said. He didn�t inspire us but he didn�t corrupt us either.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. If I don�t come up with something soon, I may have to miss Kat�s graduation. You see, I think I might be coming down with a tropical disease.

|