Beginnings and Endings

I am going to create an intermission within my series of summer photos entitled, "Here Comes Summer".  I will share one final photo within that series next week, but for this week. I wish to seize on a more timely topic --- back to school time.  

While summer extends well into September, the headline for these final days of August has been the return of children to school.  As I thought of that topic, I grabbed my camera and visited a nearby elementary school where I captured the photo featured in this week's blog.  Back to school time is truly a ritual (an event representing deeper religious, social, or cultural meaning) mixed with nostalgia and emotion.

The photo above is open to many storylines depending upon each viewer's personal experience. That smile on mom's face may be an expression of the pride she has in preparing her youngest for his first steps into formal education.  The smile may have been an unconscious response prompted by her older children who once were part of this same ritual. It may also be reflective of the time when she recalled the pride that her mother and father felt as she entered kindergarten many years ago.  The red haired boy is ready for kindergarten and is excited to enter a new stage in his life.  As with any new experience, it is good to travel with a bit of home such as a teddy bear to clutch in case the unknown becomes a bit scary.  Brother and sister look on as they welcome him into this annual ritual that includes getting new tennis shoes, art supplies and backpacks.  They are now his older sophisticated caretakers which makes them feel smug about no longer needing the teddy bear. 

As a retired school principal and lifelong parent, I have witnessed and experienced this scene many times during my lifetime.  I fondly regard it as being akin to a sacred ritual taking place in a public space.  The mom who is smiled so encouragingly in the face of her child may return to her car and collapse into tears of satisfaction that she courageously has taken the first step in releasing her child to walk within an unpredictable, larger world as a prelude to adulthood.  That tension between letting go and holding close is the greatest challenge and joy of parenthood.  Here's to parents and the kindergarten class of 2025!

PS  As I wrote this week's blog my heart kept returning to the parents and children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.  To say that I will pray for them sounds cliche given how many times people repeat those words as if they are distancing themselves and ready to move on.  But in the face of such horror, all I can manage is, "Oh my God".  Pushing past the horror in this moment, my considered response is to make a consistent effort to resist apathy and personally initiate reponses that show mercy and undeserved kindness to strangers I encounter.  It is not the answer to this stupid violence but is one step I can take to push back at its evil core.