It’s sad that the current crop of high school seniors is deprived of graduation rituals. In a time of pandemic, there won’t be caps and gowns, backyard cookouts and the familiar family celebrations of pride.
The future looks bleak. The nation’s top infectious disease doctor, Marcus Welby-like Anthony Fauci, spouted an ice water shower on college officials who hope to resume traditional campus life in September. Fauci bluntly told Congress that there likely won’t be a vaccine or treatment by the time classes are slated to resume.
This means college without parties, dances and cheering football stadiums. Forget sharing keg beers in plastic cups or passing around a bong. It’s impossible to run a college and prevent infections amid the raging hormones of the young.
So you’re already in college. You were hoping for that foreign study year in Paris, Venice or helping in a Third World Country. Well, forget about wandering down the Champs Elysees; nobody is going to be traveling anytime soon.
Many of you harvest some extra money by such universal summer jobs as slinging cocktails, drenching clam cakes in a Fry-o-lator or parking cars on a ferry headed to the Vineyard or Block Island. In this time of soaring unemployment and depressed tourism, that’s likely out too.
Maybe it’s time to step off the education escalator. You’ll save thousands in tuition money and avoid debt. A gap year serving others is a great idea.
National service is an old idea that needs to be reinforced for a new era. The military once served this purpose. As recently as World War II, the sons and, more recently, daughters of wealthy and poor served alongside each other due to the military draft coupled with the belief that those who share the benefits of our society shoulder its defense,
This meant that Pells, Roosevelts, Kennedys and Bushes served. It wasn’t a perfect system; racial segregation persisted in the military until President Harry Truman ended it in the late 1940s.
Think about joining CityYear, which puts the young to work in schools. Or volunteering at a hospital. You’ll learn more about electoral politics working on a campaign than sitting socially distanced staring out the window in poli sci class.
Seek out an internship that will give you the opportunity to explore career options and sift out those you don’t find satisfying. Get out of your comfort zone and devote a year to something bigger than your own ambitions.
Our country is divided along regional, racial, political and economic borders. Some form of national service would be a great way to get young Americans more familiar with each other. It would instill those serving with a respect for the trials of others.
Too many of us, particularly those of means, don’t believe they owe anything to the country or their fellow citizens. How long can a democracy endure if its only values are celebrating money, careerism and personal freedom?
We need a renewal of civic republicanism that stresses community and a concern for society’s fate.
To the young, it should be emphasized that a career avenue will be there when this epidemic ends. Remember, at your age, there are no mistakes, only lessons.
Scott MacKay’s commentary can be heard every Monday morning at 6:45 and 8:45 and at 5:44 in the afternoon.
