2008 Woodie Awards
Graduating senior not walking alone
Candice Hansen
Issue date: 6/2/06 Section: Commentary
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I have got my cap and gown and my announcements are all mailed out. I have one more exam to take and if I study instead of watching Grey's Anatomy, maybe, just maybe, I'll get that 80 percent I need to pass and graduate with my class June 9.
Yes, these halls here at the University of Washington, Tacoma hold the shadows of my past - forgotten jokes told at study groups, anxious paces to meet with professors, and that first glance at my now husband. Who'd have thought that a dilapidated bowling bag used to carry his books would be such an aphrodisiac? I'm so low-maintenance.
Like all you graduating seniors, before I make one of the biggest walks of my life, I need to look back to where it all started.
I come from a Polish father and a Native American mother. It took a long journey to get here, but like many of you, I did not walk alone. I had the pride and legacy of my family with me.
You see, we're all very different people, but we're very much the same. Some of you are social workers, like myself, or maybe you're accountants or carpenters, or maybe some of you are fire fighters, like my husband, who save lives every now and then.
But, whoever you are and whatever you do, we all need the very same things from one another -- respect, decency and honor. We all carry our own pride and we've all earned it without the need to show proof.
I learned long ago that human rights are earned rights, not because we deserve these rights, but because we are human beings and we exist. We need to know we're respected for who we are and where we come from, for what we bring to this world and who we've become, for where we've been and what we've been through.
When I first entered the Master's of Social Work program, my goal was to educate others about the stigma of mental illness. Because of my own struggles and hurt, I had passion to advocate for others who hurt.
I found there is indifference for those with any kind of disability or diversity in this world, and there will continue to be until people realize that all human life has equal worth. Whether you're a person of color, a sexual minority, overweight or mentally ill, human hearts break the same and "the tears fall just as hard when each human being cries," patient advocate Patricia Deegan said. "The inhuman and inhumane occur when…human being[s] fail to recognize and reverence the humanity and the fundamental …dignity of another person."
Yes, these halls here at the University of Washington, Tacoma hold the shadows of my past - forgotten jokes told at study groups, anxious paces to meet with professors, and that first glance at my now husband. Who'd have thought that a dilapidated bowling bag used to carry his books would be such an aphrodisiac? I'm so low-maintenance.
Like all you graduating seniors, before I make one of the biggest walks of my life, I need to look back to where it all started.
I come from a Polish father and a Native American mother. It took a long journey to get here, but like many of you, I did not walk alone. I had the pride and legacy of my family with me.
You see, we're all very different people, but we're very much the same. Some of you are social workers, like myself, or maybe you're accountants or carpenters, or maybe some of you are fire fighters, like my husband, who save lives every now and then.
But, whoever you are and whatever you do, we all need the very same things from one another -- respect, decency and honor. We all carry our own pride and we've all earned it without the need to show proof.
I learned long ago that human rights are earned rights, not because we deserve these rights, but because we are human beings and we exist. We need to know we're respected for who we are and where we come from, for what we bring to this world and who we've become, for where we've been and what we've been through.
When I first entered the Master's of Social Work program, my goal was to educate others about the stigma of mental illness. Because of my own struggles and hurt, I had passion to advocate for others who hurt.
I found there is indifference for those with any kind of disability or diversity in this world, and there will continue to be until people realize that all human life has equal worth. Whether you're a person of color, a sexual minority, overweight or mentally ill, human hearts break the same and "the tears fall just as hard when each human being cries," patient advocate Patricia Deegan said. "The inhuman and inhumane occur when…human being[s] fail to recognize and reverence the humanity and the fundamental …dignity of another person."
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