last evening we have the opportunity to go to our synagogue, where andi's grade is leading the friday night service. these youngsters are well prepared and shining bright - everyone knows their lines and parts, where to stand, when to approach and when to step away. it is well choreographed and the event runs smoothly ... all parents are proud.
what is especially interesting is that this particular group of kids seems engaged. i'm not professing that they are all future rabbis, but they are not a rowdy, hypercrazed bunch of children. they smile, they look you in the eye, they are focused on what they are being asked to do. this at the end of the week, when they could easily be bouncing off the walls.
we often discuss with our peers how all hope is lost for today's enfants terribles - the video games, the lack of motivation, the constant vacations, the cell phones and video chatting. horrible spelling. temper tantrums. overindulgence. but at the end of the day - quite literally in this case - they astound us with their resolve to be a part of something larger than their own little world and their own little needs.
it's both impressive and gratifying, because as we all are aware, balancing work, home life, social life, older parents, younger kids - it's a gratifying although exhausting experience. so to look around a room on a friday night and feel inserted into something that takes us away from all of those directions (calgon!) - well, it's a beautiful thing!
what is especially interesting is that this particular group of kids seems engaged. i'm not professing that they are all future rabbis, but they are not a rowdy, hypercrazed bunch of children. they smile, they look you in the eye, they are focused on what they are being asked to do. this at the end of the week, when they could easily be bouncing off the walls.
we often discuss with our peers how all hope is lost for today's enfants terribles - the video games, the lack of motivation, the constant vacations, the cell phones and video chatting. horrible spelling. temper tantrums. overindulgence. but at the end of the day - quite literally in this case - they astound us with their resolve to be a part of something larger than their own little world and their own little needs.
it's both impressive and gratifying, because as we all are aware, balancing work, home life, social life, older parents, younger kids - it's a gratifying although exhausting experience. so to look around a room on a friday night and feel inserted into something that takes us away from all of those directions (calgon!) - well, it's a beautiful thing!
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