A Letter to all High School Graduates of 2021
First, congratulations to you! High school is finally over. It’s an exciting time for you. But this Covid-thing has been a huge buzz-kill on your senior year. The timing of this thing stinks, IMO.
We are at about 14 months since you started wearing sweatpants and flip flops to (virtual) class. And, people started inexplicably hoarding toilet paper. Yes, people are weird.
Much of what Seniors typically get to do was curtailed or cancelled this year. We get it. Consider yourself lucky if you got a Senior Prom and an actual graduation ceremony with caps and gowns.
Gasoline for your car is around $3.00, assuming you can find any during this nationwide shortage. Just another “log on the fire” for an already challenging year, Thank goodness the Murder Hornets never showed up.
Now that High School is over, you need to know a few things. You will never again throw a baseball in a game, run a 440 relay or set a volleyball- other than when you’re on vacation at the beach. The next time you pick up your LaCrosse stick it will be used to knock something off a high shelf in your dorm room. In all likelihood your sports teams will never be in the same room again.
Yes, the world has changed in dramatic ways. And many would argue that you graduating Seniors got a raw deal.
Your Senior year kinda sucked, in comparison to other classes. We get it.
A Short History Lesson
Now, imagine you were born in 1900. You might think that it was a simpler time of life. Maybe.
Then on your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday. 22 million people die in that war, including many of your close friends from high school.
Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million people. We aren’t the first generation to wear face masks in public.
In comparison, according to the CDC, somewhere around 650,000 have died from the Coronavirus. Another 49 million (and change) people have to die from the Coronavirus for us to catch up. Not gonna happen.
On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Like the pandemic, the Great Depression is a time of extreme desperation. One in four families are unemployed. People are hungry or are under-nourished in record numbers. Jobs are scarce in the 1930’s and pretty much everything is in short supply, including hope.
The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. If you are lucky, you have a job that pays $300 a year, or about one dollar per day. Otherwise you will wait in line for a free loaf of bread and some government cheese. There will not be a gluten-free option.
The Depression ends. Many boys are thrilled to join the Army. Yes, they are patriotic and want to serve their country, but mainly they just want a new pair of boots and three meals a day. They were starving.
When you turn 39, World War II starts. Thousands of American young men join the army to defend liberty with their lives. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.
You and your friends from the Great Depression re-enter the pages of history again in 1945 as The Greatest Generation. And your grit and determination save the world. Thank you.
If you’re good at math, that’s 172M people dead by your 45th birthday. That’s roughly equivalent to the entire US population in 1965-or about the time your parents were born.
Look, I’m not suggesting that you didn’t get a raw deal. You did.
But sometimes you need to step outside of your own world to get perspective. This isn’t likely the worst thing that’ll ever happen to you-or the country-in your lifetime.
In fact, much worse things have happened to earlier generations. And, guess what, we mostly survived and prospered as a country.
So let’s put all this in perspective. Enjoy this moment of freedom, before life gets all serious and you have to do stuff again. And, remember to appreciate the sacrifices earlier generations made that allow you the freedom to watch anything you want on Netflix. And post bored pics of yourself on Insta. Life could be a whole lot worse.
Congratulations, class of 2021 Now go out and save the world, just like your predecessors who were born in 1900.
Sincerely,
The United States of America