"Pomp and Circumstance" is a catchy tune which is played at the processional of all graduations. Mostly. It was written by an English guy named Sir Edward Elgar for the coronation of King Edward VII back in 1901, and then the King got sick and couldn't get crowned right away so "Pomp and Circumstance" was first performed in public in 1902 by An English gal named Madame Clara Butt. (And I did not make that up.)
The first time "Pomp and Circumstance" was played in the United States, was at the procession into the Yale graduation ceremony in June of 1905. . Then of course Princeton decided what was good enough for Yale was good enough for Princeton, and played it at their graduation, and so did Columbia University and The University of Chicago and so on.
Soon, that catchy tune was being played at every procession into every college, high-school, middle school, grade school and probably pre-school graduation in the land and still is today. Except at Yale, where they decided they were not amused by all this copy catting and so today they only play it at the graduation recessional. Hummmmph.
There was a graduation ceremony a couple of nights ago here in Homeless Nation where that tune , "Pomp and Circumstance" was not played. But every graduate -all thirty of them - were brought together in a unique and moving ceremony. A rite of passage which each graduate had truly earned by enduring,, and then conquering, circumstances.
You name it, these graduates had so many circumstances ...well, their circumstances had circumstances! There were mitigating circumstances; aggravating circumstances; exigent circumstances; extenuating circumstances.......and victims of circumstances. The only circumstance missing was "The dog ate my homework circumstance!"
These graduates had either currently or recently in the past year, completed a time of residence and study and community living and real hard work and sometimes recovery in a place which had welcomed them into safety, and sanity and hope after they had endured catastrophic...well, circumstances in their lives which left them homeless...and helpless..and very sad.
And they had healed and been fortified and loved and cared for in this place and found a direction for their life and moved on...and that's what graduation is all about. You move on. And in this graduation ceremony a lot of greatful people were moving on, through their rite of passage into a good life again.
As in all graduation ceremonies, the graduates were presented with their certificates (not tied up diplomas, they couldn't find enough ribbon ) and there was a key note speaker. She was quite a gal. Went from being a janitor and other jobs up the ladder to a senior vice-president at a famous bank. Now, that's moving on!
She used a lot of motivating words in her speech...the best one was excellence. And she gave a lot of good advice, like "don't be afraid to move out of your comfort zone." Well, ok, except that these graduates had already been moved out of their comfort zone at some time when they least expected it, so maybe there was another way to say, uh...don't be afraid to try another path.
After the speech, came the party and the "Pomp." And I tell ya...street puppies know how to "Pomp." In addition to all the graduates who are now retired street puppies "pomping," were supporters and friends and staff of the residential community, and many other street puppies who are now residing in that community and now live and study and work real hard and are healing and being fortified for their journey into a better life.
And everybody looked real sharp. Anyone who wanted a haircut, got one that day and a makeover from volunteers who wanted to make the gradiuation special. And if a lady needed a dress to wear, well, somebody came up with something nice. Like I said, everybody looked real sharp. Especially the pretty lady in that pink satin number.
I've never seen so many grins in one place, grins that lit up that room. And heard so much laughter and seen so many slaps on the back and hugs and stuff. And I don't think anybody who ever graduated from Yale, or Princeton or Colombia could have been prouder of themselves than these, now former, streetpuppies.
Yup, it was some kind of magic night. Congrats to all of you. You made my heart smile.
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