Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a local school’s senior awards event. I attended on behalf of the Rotary Club and as a representative for the scholarships we awarded.  The task had minimal requirements in that I only needed to sit in the audience and come to the stage at the designated time to hand out the two awards. However, given the three-page list of awards to be presented, I anticipated that the task would mandate a rather lengthy amount of my time. As I settled into my front row seat and my stomach began to growl, I  started to regret not having made time to eat something before I left.
The ceremony began with a pledge of allegiance and then a short introduction to an appropriate member of the administration. The administrator welcomed us all, thanked everyone for coming and offered congratulations to the entire senior class. Then, the awards presentations began. I couldn’t believe it. There was no long speech. No multi-paragraph explanation of why we were all gathered. As a matter of fact, there were no wasted words of any kind. The welcome was short and succinctly appropriate. I sat up straighter and paid attention.
Approximately 12 minutes later, I looked up at the clock. Nearly all the awards on the first page of the three-page program had been distributed. What made the pace of the event even more rigorous, was that several of the awards (or nearly all of them) had multiple recipients. Each one was called. Each one marched up to the stage to receive their award. But what made it so efficient was that there were not long speeches about the award nor were their long pauses in between the reading of each recipient’s name. Rather, there was simply applause.
It was the applause that impressed me the most. Names were read quickly and in abundance, but the applause was loud, deliberate and joyful each and every time. Soon, my hands started to hurt from clapping so much. I looked around at the crowd filled with students, friends and proud family members.
No one seemed bored or distracted. On the contrary, everyone seemed respectful and enthusiastic. And their applause was unwavering.
I am sure that, like mine, their hands hurt.
But their applause continued.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the event was over. Just as it began, it ended without long-winded fuss or unnecessary fanfare.
Just with a congratulations to all the award recipients and a thank you to all those individuals and organizations, like my Rotary Club, who supported the graduates on the next phase of their journey.
My return sentiment was just as succinct.
Thank. YOU.

Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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