September 11, 2000
CYBERCOLUMN:
The world can be new again
___By Brett Younger
___We bought notebooks, binders, loose-leaf paper, No. 2 pencils, blue as well as black pens, folders, zipper pockets, broad-tip highlighters and school clothes two sizes larger than last year for our two sons' return to academia.
___When I took Graham for his first day at Lake Air Middle School, I had to take amedical form to the office, so I had an excuse to go inside. For the first time, I saw in one of my son's schools--cheerleaders, Coke machines and students six inches taller than I am. I heard a counselor trying to explain A, B, and C lunch schedules. I saw a father trying to open a locker and heard his son say with great exasperation, "Please, Dad, would you just let me try?"
BRETT YOUNGER
___All day, Carol and I looked forward to asking our children how their first day went. You can guess how the initial conversations went:
___ "Caleb, how was your first day in the first grade?"
___ "OK."
___ "Graham, how was sixth grade?"
___ "Fine."
___ We were tenacious, however, and begged for details until they finally gave us more information just to get rid of us.
___ Caleb likes Mrs. Miller, his new teacher, but is bitter because they don't play basketball at recess. He enjoys music though the way he tells it, they don't sing, play instruments or listen to music. We haven't been able to pin down exactly what they do.
___ Graham's first day was good and bad. While walking down the hall, Graham got pushed into what he estimates was a 200 pound eighth grader who said: "I think you better be apologizing to me for accidentally bumping into me."
___ Graham had to fill out six forms with questions like, "What do you like to be called?" and "What do you hope to accomplish this year?" His English teacher sent home a note that said that "if your parents object to the content of one of the assigned novels they can call the teacher and request a book that may be less offensive." This, of course, made the novels seem 10 times as interesting as they otherwise would have. Graham is guessing it will be two weeks before he actually gets to blow his saxophone in band but thinks the anticipation will make it even more fun. He claims that three of his eight teachers said something like, "I could be making more money doing something else, but I sort of like kids."
___ On Monday night, I found myself saying, "ah, beh, say, cheh, deh, eh, efe" for the first time since freshman Spanish. While I was trying to remember my muey poco Espanol, I had a strange idea: "I could learn Spanish. I'm not too old." When I was playing with the buttons on Graham's saxophone (which probably aren't called buttons) I thought: "I could take lessons. I always wanted to play an instrument."
___ Do you remember the emotions of the start of a new school year, the feeling of walking into a strange cafeteria looking for a friendly face, or of having to answer questions like, "What do you hope to accomplish this year?"
___ Hopefully, we never outgrow the feeling of newness, the wonderful way that a new notebook feels in your hands with all those blank pages to be filled.
___ On the night after school started, at the Democratic National Convention, Caroline Kennedy talked about the way Al Gore's father served with her father in the Senate and the special sense of kinship she shares with the vice president. She said, "Both of us were raised to believe that we can make the world"--and I expected her to say "better" or "kinder"--but instead she said "both of us were raised to believe that we can make the world new again." The world can be new again. We can believe in perpetual beginnings.
___ We need to stay young at heart, because we all have new notebooks to be filled, languages to be learned, books to be read, teachers to be heard, friends to be made and music to be played.
___ Brett Younger is pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco.
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