West Point Graduation Week – Day Seven

Today was the exclamation mark to a week of festivity, but represented so much more than celebratory activities.  There are milestones in life, and then there are milestones truly etched in a collective memory for a lifetime.  To me, my son’s graduation from West Point today represented everything he’s worked for since he was eleven years old.  He earned his Eagle Scout just as he was turning 13, but he’s been in a uniform since January 2002 when he joined Civil Air Patrol.  Vice President Joe Biden today referred to the class as the “9-11 generation,” because they grew up only knowing a nation at war.  It’s a class that joined knowing full well the potential risks and sacrifices inherent in the profession of arms.  Almost half the 1,032 graduates have a parent who served while less than one-percent of our nation has been on active military duty in the past decade.  The graduating class chose as their motto, “For More than Ourselves.” and as Biden said today, think of a world if that was everyone’s motto.  My sentiments to the class are the same as what I wrote to my son four short, but long years ago, “The opportunity before you is ripe with options, and I could not be prouder.  Keep pursuing your dreams and make a difference in this world.  You are truly destined for greatness.”