My soon to be graduating from high school son really doesn't want to participate in his graduation ceremony. He can't say why -- just that he doesn't want to. I, on the other hand, remember every struggle that we have been through to get him to this point, and is is hugely important to me for him to participate in this right of passage.
I get that he doesn't want to participate, although I don't understand why. In my head, I can run through probably a hundred reasons that my son can give that has kept him from participating in a lot of school functions. I know these play a part in it. But to me, we have worked so hard to get to this point, and it is the one thing that he can do that, for me, completes this part of the cycle. Selfish of me, I know.
Lest you think that the selflessness part of the title is on me also, let me quickly put you on the right track. This boy, no - not boy any longer, but a young man, who had said at least a hundred times that he won't participate, that he can't participate, that he doesn't want to participate in the graduation ceremony, put aside all of his reasons and in a great moment of pure selflessness, said quietly to me today, "I didn't know it meant so much to you. Mom, I'll do it."
Dictionary.com defines selflessness as "having little or no concern for oneself." That is what my son is doing -- putting aside his concern for himself in order to do this one thing for his mom. I couldn't be more proud.
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