To the Whidbey Island classes of 2009 at Oak Harbor and Coupeville high schools, we offer our congratulations and our sympathy.

Our congratulations for successfully completing 13 years of formal education, and our sympathy for having to walk out into a world with such a shaky economy.

We haven’t seen business failures such as those presently transpiring since the Great Depression, and even then General Motors was chugging along without government ownership. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed in the last year and the job prospects are bleak in almost all trades and professions. For those trying to dodge the working world, college tuition has shot up shockingly in the last year and the military is being pickier about who it puts in uniform.

But don’t take it too hard. You’re only 18 years old, so look around you at the grizzled faces in your midst. Some of the very oldest residents of Whidbey Island survived the Great Depression on only their wits and work ethic. They and others just a bit younger fought their way through Europe and Asia during World War II. Other aging faces spent time dodging bullets in Korea, Vietnam, the Balkans, Iraq and myriad other battle scenes over the past decades.

Every generation is tested, it’s just that this generation is being tested sooner than most. In 2009, your country is formally at war in two locations, it’s battling terrorists throughout the world and trying to avoid other wars in hotspots like Iran and North Korea.

On the economic front, most leading indicators are pointing down and Cassandras are coming out of the woodwork, making money by selling gold and survival advice. Optimists are ridiculed if they speak up, so whatever good news there is goes unreported.

But look at the bright side. You’re young and should be well educated. It’s probably a safe estimate that the public has invested over $100,000 in each and every one of you to make sure you know how to read, write and calculate. If you haven’t learned enough there’s no one to blame but yourself, but this is a great country. Late bloomers can thrive here, so if you need more education or training, go out and get it. Help is available.

Members of the Class of 2009 have a fantastic opportunity to make a life for themselves starting out in tough times. You will find it makes the journey all the more challenging and interesting, and more rewarding in the end. You’ll have plenty of good stories to tell the grandkids about the not-so-good old days, and that’s priceless.