Back To School 8-19-2009

Children and youth are headed back to school. Summer break is ended. Silent buildings and empty playgrounds roar to life with classroom lectures and children’s laughter. It is a time to put away the lazy days of sleeping late, tv, video games, camp and vacations to wake before sunrise and wait for the bus. The smells of erasers, crayons, markers and freshly painted classrooms, along with tax free weekend and the rumble of yellow buses mark an annual rite of passage. It forms the rhythm of our lives, as surely as the first crisp scent of fall and the turning of green leaves to gold. We wake up to the echo of school bands, coaches’ whistles and the smack of shoulder pads practicing for the big games to come.

It is a time of deep emotion filled with conflicting currents of freedom and fear, opportunity and obstacles. Younger children are finally old enough to follow older brothers and sisters off to school with their own backpack of books. College freshmen are finally off on their own, away from home, their heads spinning with dreams and doubt. Babies become children, let go by weeping parents. Houses that vibrated with teen-age noise surrender to the silence of an empty nest. And college freshmen are shocked with the stabs of homesickness. It is, of course, the stuff of life: joy and sorrow, celebration and challenge, learning and growing.
I am a fan of public schools. I like the fact that, in our imperfect system, every child has a chance to learn. I love movies about public school teachers and the difference they make in students’ lives, like Freedom Writers or Mr. Holland’s Opus. My wife is a career public school teacher. Across the years she has taught high school, third grade and kindergarten. She now teaches pregnant and parenting teens with a ninety percent graduation rate. She is on the front line.
Even though public schools take summer breaks, school is never out. Children and youth are always learning, and sometimes the most important lessons they learn are the moments when parents and adults are least aware. They learn honesty, generosity, courtesy and faith by watching us in check-out lines, in traffic and in the home. They are always watching and always learning, even when we think they are tuned out.
Last week, I was visiting with the seven year old granddaughter of one of my best friends. She is very bright and entering second grade. I said, “You are very smart. But it is important as you grow up to be wise.” I asked, “Do you know the difference between being smart and being wise?” “Sure,” she said, “smart is knowing that 3 + 3 equals 6. Wise is doing the right thing.” I think she nailed it.
No person ever lived that was as wise as Jesus. Jesus concludes his most famous message by telling the story of two men who built houses, one on the sand and one on rock. When the storm came, the house on the sand crumbled and the house built on rock survived. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them,” Jesus said, “may be compared to the wise man who built his house upon the rock.” (Matt. 7:24). If we would be truly wise we must hear what Jesus said to do and do it.