We all need supportive cheerleaders in our lives, and when they come in the form of our own parents, it’s even better.
At every one of my performances, awards ceremonies, and graduations growing up, my dad would bellow in his big, booming voice, “THAT’S MY DAUGHTER!!!” As embarrassing as it was, it always made the whole room chuckle and I never had a single doubt that my dad was proud of me.
A dad in a viral video brought that same energy—and some impressive acrobatic skill—to his own kid’s graduation. The video first made the viral rounds in 2016 and has gotten a resurgence on social media this week. After a year of constantly shifting pandemic schooling, which was hard on students, parents, teachers, and administrators, a joyful celebration of an educational milestone just feels right to share.
For some kids, graduating is just a given—an occasion to mark, but not necessarily an enormously significant event. For others, the road to graduation is filled with obstacles, pitfalls, detours, and rough conditions that make that achievement worthy of a jubilant expression of pride.
This is just pure, unbridled celebration you can feel in your bones. (Especially when he flips back over that railing. Dang.)
Interestingly, some commenters feel that the man’s exuberance was too much, that it put the attention on him instead of his kid. Maybe it’s because I had the dad I had, but this display of joy and pride felt like it was all about the kid. We don’t know what parents go through to help their kids overcome challenges. We don’t know how close this kid came to not graduating. We don’t know if the kid actually excelled and this dad is simply overjoyed at how his offspring fulfilled their own dreams.
The only thing we know for sure is that this family is happy and proud and that this dad let those emotions overtake him. Imagine someone cheering for you and your achievements with this much enthusiasm. This kind of unbridled joy is something our world needs more of, not less.
