We have seen them and their parents at worship for years. Other confirmands we don't know at all. I then ask the person in question if she was ever confirmed. Apparently confirmation is not particularly memorable. And then there are the photographs, in the hallway outside the choir room, of the confirmation classes of years past.
Many people understand confirmation as a kind of graduation.
Once we have graduated from high school, for instance, we don't go back. And then there is an aspect to the confirmation service which should jar us all, that part of the service where hands are laid upon the candidate. Obviously there is close connection between the meaning of confirmation in the faith and the meaning of ordination to the ministry. Then of course there are the promises made during the service itself. One such promise is that the confirmand will be diligent in attendance at public worship.