My son graduated from college...

...this past weekend and I'm so proud of him for so many reasons. (That's him in front of his frat house -- I still can't pronounce the name of the place.)

But I think what gratified me most of all was when my wife and I ran into the custodian of his building as we were walking out the back door on Saturday. Unprompted, he told us "You are blessed. He's really a nice kid."

I mentioned this later to Joe and he said, "Yeah, that's Bill. He's a good guy. When he first showed up we called him 'sir' and he said, 'Most people around  here call me bitch.' And I said, 'Well maybe we can find something in between.' We made sure to include him and his dog in the Class of '12 picture."

And I thought, anyone can brown-nose a professor or a coach or a boss. But to show respect for those who don't have power over us is a measure of one's character.