FROM THE EDITOR A note to graduates: Trust the process

ROSLYN RYAN Editor

It occurred to me the other day just how tedious graduation advice can sometimes be to receive. After all, how many ways can there possibly be to say that the future is wide open, that you must embrace the journey, or, my personal favorite, that “your attitude is what will determine your altitude”? As it turns out, quite a lot.

In the end, however, almost all graduation advice comes from a place of love, or at least of encouragement, which is really just love with a kicker of motivation thrown in. We all want to impart some small gift of hard-earned wisdom on those just now taking their first steps into that wonderous, but also strange and sometimes bruising world of adulthood. But I know, even as that love rains down on graduates this time of year from proud parents, teachers and others who have seen quite a few years slip by since their own graduations, it can also be a bit much.

Given this, and not feeling the need to add to the cannon of inspirational graduation-themed editorial columns that tend to pepper the pages of local newspapers this time of year, I will simply proffer the following three words that I hope the members of the Class of 2023 will bear in mind as they take their next brave steps:

It’s a process.

By this I simply mean that, contrary to what you might have been led to believe, moving the tassel on your graduation cap or hitting a milestone birthday does not suddenly make you an adult.

Passing your exams doesn’t impart a trunkload of wisdom that you can suddenly access, and being handed a diploma doesn’t turn you into a different person. If I know anything at all about anything, it is that growing into an adult is an unsteady process, sometimes painfully slow and sometimes lurching violently ahead, and expecting it to be any different—thinking that you have to have all the answers or devaluing yourself because you are not where you expected to be—is an exercise in futility. The idea that your journey is uniquely yours is not poetry—it’s fact. So give yourself a break already and lean into the idea that it’s going to take a little time to fully become the next version of yourself. There will be regrettable mistakes and things you wish you could take back. Progress will not always look like you thought it would.

My dear graduates and soonto-be graduates, as you take these next steps I hope you remember that it is not always going to be easy but it will be worth it.

Take your time. Enjoy the ride. Trust the process.

Letters To The Editor

Voters must ask key questions of school board candidates

Dear Editor, In 2011, a slate of candidates swept the Goochland School Board election. Elected by our county’s conservative majority, plus independents, moderates and progressives, they went on to transform our schools. They hired superintendent Jeremy Raley and expanded their teacher search to make Goochland County “Worth the Commute” as a prime spot to teach. They helped get our schools in fiscal shape, expand programs and establish ties with the local community college as well as universities so that now many of our students graduate with associate degrees, others as skilled mechanics, cooks and heavy equipment operators. We have in our schools extremely talented teachers, librarians, counselors and staff who know the names of our students and greet them with smiles and warmth and love. This used to be considered a blessing. Our kids head off to school greeted by a kind of second family, there to nourish their minds, aid in their social growth and help discover their talents. Now all of that is suspect, the adults in our children’s lives are seen as threats and a move is afoot to abolish all that is good about the public education that is every American child’s right.

Currently and sadly and strangely, some extremists

We

WANT

To

in the majority party leadership in Goochland have now set their sights on targeting the same board. The goal of these extremists is to install a board whose aim is no longer to achieve high student achievement, offer a world class education, expose kids to new ideas, allow teachers the freedom to teach but instead the closing of the mind, the shutting off from our community and world. Less books, less exposure to culture and values that don’t align with certain of our citizens seems to be the new goal. Fear is spreading and there is a push to convince our community that many of the same books they grew up on would pollute the minds of their children and grandchildren.

To read the majority party’s monthly newsletter is to be exposed to fear and bigotry and an attempt to shut down what makes this country great. We are great because we are diverse and curious and courageous and we stand up in protest when our rights, which we hold so dear, are violated. We are great because we allow others to disagree but we call out behavior that violates ethics, and we stand up when already marginalized citizens are held up as scapegoats.

Like my fellow Goochlanders, I am a patriot. I will continue to defend our democracy, our republic. I encourage all eligible citizens to get registered and vote, to not be beholden to ideologies but to ideals. I love this country and county and

PUBLISH YOUR ISSUE-DRIVEN LETTERS its principals. I love it dearly and hold it to a high standard. I believe we’re moving closer to its stated value of “Liberty and Justice For All.” I know the vast majority of Goochlanders feel the same way, even though we might not agree on specific policy.

Every child deserves a great education, one that expands their minds. Currently there is an attempt to pull “Slaughterhouse-Five” and other great books from our high school libraries, as if reading words on a page would defile our children. If books had that power, reading Einstein would make you a genius, reading Hemingway might turn you into a drunken bullfighter, the Bible would be to blame for any act of violence or debauchery found in it, and conversely Jesus’s teachings on love would make us instantly love our neighbor, do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and we’d be compelled to give away all we have to help those in need. For good or bad, this is not what literature and great books do. Literature and great books expand our world. Discussing ideas expands our world and viewpoints and allows us to solve problems we cannot solve when we’re surrounded by people who think exactly like us.

School board members should not be beholden to any party. There is no D or R next to their name on the ballot and they should sit on that board as true nonpartisans.

Publisher Joy Monopoli ......................................... jmonopoli@RSnVa.com

Editor Roslyn Ryan rryan@goochlandgazette.com

Sports Editor Robby Fletcher rfletcher@powhatantoday.com

Classifieds cindy adams cadams@mechlocal.com

Production Manager denine d’angelo ddangelo@mechlocal.com send letters to: The Goochland Gazette 8460 Times-dispatch Blvd. Mechanicsville,

The Gazette welcomes your signed letters to the editor on topics of interest to Goochland residents. Letters must include your address and a daytime telephone number. We reserve the right to edit letters. We do not guarantee that every letter received will be published. Letters reflect the opinions and positions of the writers and not The Goochland Gazette.

I urge my fellow Goochlanders to please dig deep and ask yourselves and our local candidates what each of those school board candidates stand for, and what and for whom they will stand up for. Ask if they know what the duties of a school board member are, what they can and cannot do, how much they can or cannot change the curriculum, how much they’re tasked to