Not graduating high school has never been an option for me. After a lucky fifteen years of tough love via scholarship-backed private school education (pre-school through senior year plus an extra year of pre-k thanks to failing at coloring), the thought of dropping out never came to mind. The same goes for my peers at school, and perhaps more so, to their tuition-paying parents. For the wealthy and/or well-educated families, high school graduation is an assumed requirement.
So I think these graduation party invitations populating my mailbox are a little much. Let me be clearer: The over-the-top grad bashes disgust me. I’m all for getting a few friends and family members together to celebrate the occasion because I know how hard the four years can be, but sometimes an invisible line is crossed and the parties become another pathetic episode on one of MTV’s rich-kid party shows (of which I know people who have starred in or justly deserve an episode).
Let me be clearer: Over-the-top grad bashes disgust me.
I recently opened my mailbox to discover a large package I immediately thought was an informational packet from my college I was awaiting, only to find a party invitation instead. This thing was huge. Inside, I found poker chips, a professional photo of the hosts, my wristband, and myself uttering, "Here we go again."
This article appears in May 20-26, 2009.