Graduates face new challenges

Welcome, graduates, to a brave new world.

More than 1,000 of you crossed the important threshold of high school graduation this weekend.

Now look at the world that awaits you.

Your world still is struggling with a slow-to-yield recession, a nearly impossible-to-fix environmental disaster in the Gulf and two wars against hard-to-find foes.

Your world is fractured by cable-news shout-fests, kept on edge by unyielding political polarization and permeated by a disturbing  distrust of all things governmental.

It’s enough to make you want to put your ear buds back in, crank up the volume and concentrate on the next test.

Or you can try to make a difference, as some of your classmates already are.

A series of profiles in the Inter Lake over the past week provided a glimpse of what your peers are doing for others:

— Home-school graduate Olivia Roskos heads to the Czech Republic next month to teach English, then pursue missionary work.

— Stillwater Christian graduate David Rice contributes his keyboard skills to all manner of church and community events.

— Columbia Falls High School graduate Matt Triplett, a bull rider, helps disabled skiers enjoy winter recreation.

— Whitefish High School graduate Josh Schott organized a student anti-genocide coalition and pursued his cause before the state Legislature.

Those are just some of the ways your cohorts are working to change the world.

Need more inspiration?

Remember the legacy of Ian Hineman, who received an honorary posthumous diploma from Flathead High School on Saturday. His accidental death in 2008 launched his father on a lifelong mission to promote carbon monoxide safety.

Or look at the example of Mikayla Wisher, who wasn’t supposed to live beyond her first year because of a rare, debilitating genetic disorder. Mikayla proudly received her diploma from Glacier High School.

So, yes, you can make a difference.

The world may seem crazy, members of the Class of 2010, but it will be what you make it to be.