The relaxing days
of summer have begun in the Washington, D.C. area, which is abuzz with many
activities. There will be a grand celebration this long weekend for the July
4th Independence Day. Americans will be watching parades, going to BBQs
(usually called cookouts here), enjoying fireworks and having parties with
the red, white and blue themes.
I have watched the
main parade in the Capital several times and it is a stupendous experience.
However, I will not braving the crowds this time around. Sometimes I sniff out
smaller town parades where I can find a comfortable place to perch and enjoy
the parade. One of my favorite parades is in the Palisades neighborhood in the
D.C. area. This year, I am planning to head out to Frederick, a charming and
historic town in Maryland where I will watch a bathtub race among other
celebrations, it will be first for me!
Americans love
parties and we just went through a season of graduation with some grand
celebration parties. Colleges scramble for famous persons to make commencement
speeches at graduation. In this area, Vice-President Joe Biden has been in the
news and made a notable commencement speech at Yale University. His speech was
touching and personal, and the public later found that he was weathering yet
another family tragedy as his son Beau was seriously ill then and passed away
from brain cancer shortly after his speech. It was fitting that he spoke much
about Beau and also about compassion:
"It’s
not that all that difficult, folks, to be compassionate when you’ve been the
beneficiary of compassion in your lowest moments not only from your family, but
from your friends and total strangers.
Because when you know how much it meant to you, you know how much it
mattered. It’s not hard to be
compassionate.
I
was raised by a tough, compassionate Irish lady named Catherine Eugenia
Finnegan Biden. And she taught all of
her children that, but for the grace of God, there go you — but for the grace
of God, there go you."
Graduation from
high school and from college is a huge milestone, and parents go through a
massive effort to plan parties or even sponsor graduation trips as rewards.
These include cruises and beach trips. For many new college graduates, after
the euphoria of graduation, they now face the arduous task of job applications.
Job prospects has been tough for Millennials as some studies show that more
than half of college grads are unemployed or underemployed six months after
graduation. However the class of 2015 is more fortunate than many other
graduating classes as employers are apparently hiring more than they did last
year.
Lydia Sin
Author of “Going
to America? Get INSIDE Information”
Ebook and
paperback available at:
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