Recently I attended a graduation ceremony at a University.

This was quite a formal event with hundreds of students who had worked hard for years to finally have their degree conferred. The staff were dressed in the colourful academic attire and the theatre was full of families and friends and people of all ages.

At the start of the ceremony, the head of the ceremony addressed the audience saying how wonderful it was to see so many young children. He realises that children like to make noise and walk up and down stairs and sometimes to run so he told people minding children not to worry as it was family event and the ceremony could manage children moving around and babies crying.

He concluded by saying that those children may one day be students, so he was looking after the future.

You could hear all the parents and relatives visibly sigh with relief. I thought how wonderful when there is a formal acknowledgement that children can be children and not affect the formality but add to it.

There was no more noise than usual, but instead of lots of adults shooshing and chasing children people seemed more relaxed.

I was thinking many people need consideration at events: people who need to sit near a door, people who need to move around, people who need to be standing near a wall, and many other things that make the difference between being able to attend events or missing out.

When have you been impressed or disappointed at a special event because the needs of others have been considered or not considered?

Leah

A Moodscope member.