My High School Graduation

Graduation is one of the rights of passage before teenagers officially enter adulthood. It signifies the official end of life as a minor and grand doorway to becoming a real adult. Many high schools let graduating seniors pick a class song that is supposed to reflect the essence of that graduating class. The song should have special meaning to the graduates. “The Dance” by Garth Brooks was the 1991 Livonia High School graduation song. However, my class did not pick this song; the principal picked it for us. I remember my class choosing “Miracle” by Whitney Houston.

To this day, I still don’t know how “The Dance” became our song. It wasn’t even on the list that my class made, as far as I can remember. I don’t know if it was the result of some sort of collusion or subterfuge or if our principle was trying to assert her authority as a new, female principal. I know that my graduating class was at odds with her for the majority of the school year. Whatever the reason, many of us were surprised on graduation night when we found out our song had been changed.

Many of us felt cheated of our right as graduates from the school. Because of my personal feelings about having a song chosen for us, I didn’t listen to another Garth Brooks song for almost five years. This was a hard task because not only was Brooks at the zenith of his career, but I happened to be friends with a lot of people who loved him. One of them even donned Brooks’ signature style at the time, i.e. the trademark hat, multi-toned shirt, tight jeans and cowboy boots. Needless to say, every time I saw him, I was reminded of the miscarriage of justice that my classmates and I endured at the hands of the she dictator of our school.

One day, I was turning the channels on the television and happen to pass CMT when “The Dance” video was playing. Years had passed, and I decided to really listen to the song for the first time. The words were really haunting, and it blended well with the historical images used. I finally came to the realization that the song was basically about how fleeting life could be and those moments that take us by surprise. Those moments, happy or sad, are still moments that wouldn’t be traded in for anything. I thought about the experiences we have in high school and finally embraced the song as my graduation song.