If any of you are like me, I bet you get dozens of e-mails every week that we refer to as forwards. These e-mails usually come from friends and family members.

You know which ones I’m talking about, these are the e-mails that they got from someone else who got it from someone else who probably got it from someone else (you get the idea). For whatever reason, your friend of family member felt you just had to read it too.

I must admit that most of these e-mails quickly find their way to my deleted bin. However, every once in a while a gem like the story below sent by my mother will pull on the heart strings and serve as a reason to more carefully scan through the rest.

I don’t know if the story below is true or not. Either way, I loved it and thought you might appreciate it as well.

“They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles and Moms freely brushed away their tears.

While this may have appeared to others like any other graduation, there was something different about this one. This class would NOT pray during the commencements…not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice, but they were routine, that is until the final speech received a standing ovation.

A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then it happened.

All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly sneezed!

The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said,

“GOD BLESS YOU”, each and every one of you. His speech over, the student walked off stage.

The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God’s blessing on their future, with or without the court’s approval.”

Again, I don’t know if the above story is true or not. I do know that it makes me smile every time I read it and I wanted to “forward” it to all of you, even the ones without a computer; God Bless You All

I’d like to hear from you. If you agree or disagree with my opinion on something, have an idea for a column topic or just want to let me know someone is reading this every once in awhile please e-mail me. My address is dave@gate811.net.