Character Moment

I believe that you can tell a lot about a person's character by how they behave in the school kid's drop off lanes. There is a daily moment when ego battles common good.

To provide a safe environment and to ensure orderly drop off, clearly defined parameters are set at the beginning of each academic year to protect kids and parents. A small lot, walkers, riders, the normal morning hussle and bussle. The process... simple, civil.

And yet, each morning a select few whiz into the lot from the wrong direction bypassing the masses who orderly wait their turn in line. They cut the line. They zoom too fast for children's presence. They don't go to the far end of the drop off point so that others can pull up for kid departures as well...

Somehow their morning is more rushed than ours. Somehow their next gig is vital to our mundane. Somehow their child cannot walk the extra 15 feet from a little further up the drive.

Breathe deep o'masses of civil beings. Count to ten rather than screaming a curse. And by all means keep both hands and all fingers wrapped around the wheel.

I use the moment to teach chaos theory and the benefits of orderly behavior to my third grader. Breathe.

Montage

I have been reading a bit about rearing ethical and socially conscious kids this week.

I was quite blessed to have parents who understood the value of giving back and whose actions often spoke as loud or louder than their words. At times I know I challenged them by choosing paths at the extremes - journeys that were as mundane as hanging out with all "sorts" of kids or as extreme as living in places that literally put me in harms way.

I think it might be harder for kids today. Specifically, I think it may be harder for my kids today unless I am purposeful. They are bombarded with data from the news, papers, television shows. We limit the viewing but the layers and layers are there. I know they see more, hear more than I did at their age. At least from what I recall.

There are so many needs in our community and around the world. As the images and stories wash over us, I can see how easy it is to feel numb or paralyzed by it all. Through the montage of all the natural disasters, economic challenges, discrimination, spiritual scarcity, I am but one... what can I do?

I try to be a parent consistent in my own actions to the behaviors I expect of them. But even I wonder if I am doing enough to make the world a better place - each day, every day.

During different seasons of my life I did more, sometimes less. What season am I in now?

I want to think more on this throughout the coming week. What is the theme I am hopeful to pass on to Rachel and Nathan? Not that they will follow my path but rather than they seek out a path of servanthood that meets their dreams and ideals and calling...