Orr What?

Friday night my daughter graduated from college....

Kelley is the first grandchild to graduate from college.

I was the first of my parent's children.

My Father was the first of his parent's children.

We are so proud of Kelley!

As graduation ceremonies go, this one was your a-typical event. music, lengthy speeches and graduations picking up their empty 'degree' folder on one side of the stage and dropping it off on the other side. Babies and toddlers were crying (taking infants/toddlers to such events is just wrong...and will be saved for another blog) and the hard concrete benches were getting harder by the minute.

Alabama State Senator Arthur Orr was the Commencement Speaker. In my opinion it is people like him that completely keep racism, discrimination and segregation alive and well in the South! Central and North Alabama just got hammered and partially destroyed by tornadoes. Pictures just can not do the destruction of life, property and cities, justice - howevere, it would make sense to reference the tragic events on April 27th in any speech about triumph and moving forward that you'd give to graduates. Senator Orr made such a reference to the tornadoes..then tainted his speech by saying, "....we saw Whites helping Blacks, Blacks helping Whites. Catholics helping Protestants, Protestants helping Catholics. Poor helping Rich, Rich helping the Poor....."

My husband and I just looked at each other as in "What????" A more powerful statement would have been, 'we saw communities, neighbors, strangers come together...'. Why would he (or anyone) see fit to put a label on who helped who? Maybe he's a Rich Catholic White man that needed to put emphasis on what HE did throughout the tornado aftermath??? (I do not know that his religious or financial standing). Just saying out loud. Help, comfort, support does not come with labels when homes, lives, livelihoods lay in heaps of twisted wood and metal across cities/communities/neighborhoods.

AnyORR...the content of his speech was inappropriate and his timing sure sucked!

Another graduation story to share: So, my husband, son-in-law and I were sitting on on the top row of a set of indoor bleachers. There is a rail behind us separating another set of bleachers. Kelley had just gotten her degree - still about 100-125 still to get theirs (out of about 350). Beau leans back and says "She's getting ready to bail". I said "Kelley wouldn't do that". Beau: "Just watch". A couple of minutes later our daughter gracefully gets up, head up with eyes straight ahead, and walks out the auditorium. I was stunned in shock watching my daughter bail on the graduation ceremony! We hurriedly scrambled up and over the back railing of the bleachers (there weren't stairs near us and the crowd was thick as thieves) and find her in the lobby.

She is such a rebel...just like her Daddy!