“We can never say, ‘I promise it’s not going to happen at your school,’” Dr. Gurwitch, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the impact of trauma and violence on children, said. “We can say, ‘We are doing everything we know how to do to keep you safe.’” (Mervosh, New York Times)
Everything? Really? Who are the ‘we’? Doing what exactly? Safe how?
What are you reading? seems to be a go-to question among friends and colleagues and family, especially in the summer months when we allow for such rewarding but hard to find time for endeavors. During July and August school children sign up for reading programs, beach novels get traded sand and all between besties, and adults of all degrees become literary critics with ease pronouncing and denouncing across their social media platforms. I too enjoyed a few novels in between the relentless weekly New Yorker. Whatever you are feeling today, joy over Taylor & Travis, excitement about Alcaraz’s buzz and level of excellence, or despair over the latest school shooting, marking over 430 such massacres of children since Columbine, fright over the walk-out of science and medical experts from the C.D.C., terror over Putin’s control of the current US President, anger towards the cowardly GOP dismantling voting rights, citizen rights, or anything that would require a conversation, horror over the wars still raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, in any case you just might find a way out of going crazy by reading a novel. Yes, fiction to start. But history and memoir and art and poetry and on and on through the whole myriad of genres will all guide you through the darkest of days and longest of nights.
She and I sat on the sidelines watching all our kids compete for decades, playing Soccer, Baseball, Softball, Basketball and LaCrosse, from T-ball everyone is a winner to high school and college sports to semi-professional serious business. There was even a post-college year where both sons played in a men’s b-ball league. Traveling through blizzards, standing through downpours or blazing sun, we got there to watch the highs and lows sports offers its competitors. And, as luck would have it, we caught most games through the years, but last week we were overjoyed to witness our adult son endure 3 days of tough matches as he made his way to the semi-finals in a sport he recently started playing with a bit more intention, tennis. We witnessed the thrill of the wins to advance, and the last match that ended in a narrow defeat. Admiring athleticism is inspiring, but so is watching the athlete’s internal struggle as their mounting frustration is pushed aside by determination. We yelled all the platitudes, granted all the positive nods, but for the person on the pitch or court or field, it is their mindset that must deliver the motivation to push onward. Exactly like every battle we face off the mat, right? We watched matches over three days, learning what every sports metaphor is aimed at in real life. Ideals like finding hope when its not easy or paying attention to the tiny little joys when those too are rare.
Nine Cent Girl 