Editorial: May the Class of 2020 forever be kind

It has been an unusual year for the Class of 2020, and certainly an unusual commencement.

In many ways, that's too bad. The pandemic has stolen some of the senior year traditions from these graduates.

But in some ways, it's not. In some ways, the pandemic has been a teaching moment and a life lesson.

One of the truest axioms in life is that none of us can control everything that happens to us; we can control only how we respond.

The Class of 2020, for the most part, has responded with love, responsibility and altruism.

From our vantage point, it seems apparent that the vast majority of students didn't just look out for themselves in response to the pandemic; they looked out for all of the people around them as well.

We couldn't be prouder of the young people in our community, and we are confident that their parents and teachers are rightfully proud as well.

We hope the Class of 2020 is, too.

For this class, as for all classes, the years ahead will be filled with successes and failures, comforts and disappointments, joys and sorrows.

Our wish for this class, as for all classes, is that in those years ahead they live as practitioners of kindness.

To live a kind life. What greater ambition can there be? What greater contribution can anyone make?

We talked about in this space years ago in a message to the Class of 2014:

You don't have to look too far to find instances of meanness, pettiness, vindictiveness. They're not just prevalent in our world. They're prevalent in our daily lives. Probably none of us gets through a day without observing, suffering or committing meanness in some way.

We come across it in traffic, at the supermarket checkout line, in the workplace, in hurtful humor and political banter. It's everywhere.

Our lives ought not to be about us against them. They ought to be about all of us. Each of us is here for only a short time, each with the same fragile vulnerabilities, the same mortality.

Try to remember these words, attributed to Mother Teresa:

"People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

"If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

"If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

"If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

"What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

"If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway."

"The good you do today will often be forgotten. Be good anyway.

"Give the best you have and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

"In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."