Opinion

We are in the midst of graduation season. I love this time of year. It’s wonderful to see young men and women as they complete their journey in education and embark upon the next chapter of their lives.

If you walk by an Ozark church some Sunday morning, you might hear the congregation singing out the old hymn, “Give Me that Old-Time Religion,” but rarely do you hear the same enthusiasm from people for that “old-time medicine.”

As much as Cassville’s senior prank quacked me up last week, Exeter’s this week was a bit...fishy. These crafty Tigers pulled out 15 individually wrapped goldfish from under the stage, gifting them to Assistant Superintendent Ashley Fly. My question is, why go all the way to PetSmart? I say next year go catch coach some beautiful rainbow trout!

Elders have always told me to savor the now — the older you get, the faster time seems to tick. I am indeed experiencing that phenomenon as my 35th birthday approaches this week.

I have a suggestion for all you green-thumbed gardeners out there: plant with the intention of giving back to your community. Imagine if a percentage of your garden harvest went directly to those in need at a food pantry.

“He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:3, CSB) It’s gardening season.

A Cassville graduation tradition carried on this week. For those who couldn’t see from the stands, quite a few of the Class of 2023 handed High School Principal Tyler Willis a rubber ducky of some kind. I wasn’t keeping count, but I bet by the end of Sunday’s ceremony, he had at least 50 new rubber friends, if not more.

In the past 10 years, I can’t even begin to count how many graduations I have attended. Locally, I shoot at least three or four every May for the paper, but this year, I have another special one of my own to attend, and one that will look vastly different from the Barry County way.

Spring and summer are my favorite times of the year in Southwest Missouri. Graduates are throwing their hats while family members roast in the sun.