This is an article that I wrote for the SJP parish bulletin. Thought you might like it.
Can you find me?After six and a half years, twelve classes for thirty six credits, thirty eight books and twenty nine papers written, I have finally finished my graduate work in Religious Education. So on May 2nd I made my way to the Palumbo Center to receive my degree and hear a special message from Jerome Bettis, our keynote speaker. It was very exciting. My family came in from out of town, special plans were made and a good friend and classmate of mine let me borrow the cap, gown and hood that she wore at her graduation last year. It was feeling like a very special day. I walked briskly and felt a bit taller as I made my way from the parking lot to the graduation ceremony. I thought it interesting that so many people from the School of Pharmacy were going in the same direction. I had seen their special cap and gown in the bookstore when I went to buy my tassel. They were
bright blue with a Duquesne University emblem on one shoulder and “School of Pharmacy” embroidered on the other. I wasn’t in the School of Pharmacy so I wore the tradition black cap, gown and hood, like my friend had the year before. What I didn’t realize was that for some reason Duquesne wasn’t using the tradition black this year, for any school. So yes, of the hundreds of people graduating, I was the only one in black. Boy did I feel stupid, and awkward, and uncomfortable. Everyone was looking at me a bit funny. I could hear them laughing behind my back. No one would talk to me or even stand near me. I
felt like that kid who sits at a lunch table all by herself. I wondered how many times I had shot that kind of look at someone who seemed weird, or different, or annoying. I felt like I had switched places, if only for a moment, with someone who had been looked down upon and judged for the way they look. It was like I was the poor person in a room full of wealthy people, the stranger in a room full of friends, or the doubter in a room full of churchy people. But there was nothing I could do about it and the color of my gown didn’t change the fact that I had worked very hard to earn my degree. My discomfort, others’ looks and comments could only ruin the day if I let it. So when people asked me why I was in black I just said:
“I didn’t get the memo” and laughed it off. The upside was that my family had no problem finding me; the black dot in the sea of blue. I also took comfort in the fact that I saved the $85 it would have cost to purchase an outfit that would have soon become part of a land fill or costume closet. So I’ll take my $85 and fill my gas tank twice and buy myself a latte! But most of all I will be aware of the way I look at and speak to those who might seem different than me, knowing that inside they have the potential to reflect the Light of the Spirit, just like I do.
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And watching her run for the first time (my first not hers). We would run and giggle at the joy of "racing".
Our next adventure took us to downtown Pittsburgh. We drove along the river to the Duquesne Incline. The incline is a trollie that runs up and down the very steep hill of Mount Washington.
