A few weeks ago, we went to the Orem Utah High School graduation to see our second oldest granddaughter, Andie, get her diploma.

What a happy day. Andie has blossomed just as we hoped she would.

Since the school is being rebuilt, the graduation was held in the Marriott Center at Brigham Young University.

High up in the center of the arena are four television monitors that allow closer viewing. As each student entered the doorway and their name was read, their picture was shown on the monitors. They each were able to receive a fraction of a second of fame as they marched out with hope to face a larger world.

It was a typical graduation event, but some words spoken by the principal, Jane Lindhout, stood out to me.

Instead of dazzling students and telling them the world would be their oyster, she said this:

"The world's in a mess now. Some might say it's a nightmare. We have wars and economic meltdown around the globe. The federal debt is exploding. My generation has not been kind to the earth, and we are being held hostage by our need for oil.

"Not all bankers and mortgage lenders (and I will insert people from many other professions) tell you the absolute truth. Some good people tried to get rich quick and they ruined not only their futures but those of family and friends who trusted them and thought they could get rich quick, too."

As I sat listening, it brought to mind some of the tales that have surfaced recently of careless conduct and betrayed trust involving health care, investment, real estate and countless other fraudulent and unethical ventures.

Rationalizing what they were doing, these people obviously didn't consider that they were stealing our children's and grandchildren's futures.

Lindhout went on to say, "Too many jobs have been lost, and the job you will have in 15 years likely has not even been imagined. Life's going to be a real challenge for you."

Lindhout, however, did not leave the graduates without hope when she said, "But, here's the good news: You are the dreamers, and you get to decide what your life is going to look like. You get to decide your own values and beliefs. Chances are that many of the world's current problems were caused because values and beliefs were not followed — because integrity was compromised in favor of convenience, misplaced trust, greed or sheer ignorance of natural consequences."

Then she hit them with a truth: "What I know for sure is that your integrity is the only thing that can't be taken from you. Thieves can take your possessions, death can take your family or friends, enemies can mar your reputation, but the only way you can lose your integrity is for you to give it away."

If the 2009 graduates are anything like me, they were likely paying more attention to the boy or girl next to them than to what the principal was saying. For that reason I wanted to put her words into print.

Wouldn't it be heartening if these young people would read and heed Lindhout's advice?

Perhaps, somehow, they can patch up this mangled mess their parents and grandparents have made — using vision and integrity and not selfishness and greed.

And maybe in this crazy world they can still get a chance to dream their dreams and see them through to fruition.

But like Lindhout said, it won't be easy.

E-Mail: sasyoung2@aol.com