Elementary Wisdom
Nobody needs to be reminded that 2004 was an election year. We were bombarded with political announcements on all sides, enough advertisements to last a lifetime. Local politicians were doing more than running ads; they were also within our school. I was fortunate enough to do several tree plantings at elementary schools this Fall. Why fortunate? Because I discovered there is something refreshing about the honesty of elementary students.
At one school program, the Mayor was describing to a group of second graders how he and city council worked together. After a while, the Mayor must have noticed the attention span of second graders was not that great and decided to ask some questions. “What does the Mayor and City Council do?” he asked. One little guy, about half way back shot his arm up, waved it all around, and had a facial expression that said he was in great pain and would be until he was called on. Unfortunately, the Mayor called on him. “My dad says you people don’t do anything,” answered the little boy.
At another school, we had planted a few trees and were enjoying lunch before the Mayor and Principal spoke. Setting on the grass eating a box lunch with a group of students one of the boys nudged me and said, “Hey, Ralph, see that guy in the tie? He’s the Mayor. The only time he shows up is when we have good lunches.”
At another tree planting, we had set through about thirty minutes of speeches from the Mayor and a couple of City Council people, before the tree planting got underway. I was helping a group of young girls dig the hole for their tree. We were talking about all the people who had showed up and one of the girls said, “Our teacher says we will see a lot of politicians this year and they all want something.”
It is good to listen to the wisdom of kids.
At one school program, the Mayor was describing to a group of second graders how he and city council worked together. After a while, the Mayor must have noticed the attention span of second graders was not that great and decided to ask some questions. “What does the Mayor and City Council do?” he asked. One little guy, about half way back shot his arm up, waved it all around, and had a facial expression that said he was in great pain and would be until he was called on. Unfortunately, the Mayor called on him. “My dad says you people don’t do anything,” answered the little boy.
At another school, we had planted a few trees and were enjoying lunch before the Mayor and Principal spoke. Setting on the grass eating a box lunch with a group of students one of the boys nudged me and said, “Hey, Ralph, see that guy in the tie? He’s the Mayor. The only time he shows up is when we have good lunches.”
At another tree planting, we had set through about thirty minutes of speeches from the Mayor and a couple of City Council people, before the tree planting got underway. I was helping a group of young girls dig the hole for their tree. We were talking about all the people who had showed up and one of the girls said, “Our teacher says we will see a lot of politicians this year and they all want something.”
It is good to listen to the wisdom of kids.
posted by Ralph at 5:26 AM
1 Comments:
The babes are the wisest of all! I wonder why, if we start out with that kind of wisdom, where do we lose it along the way to adulthood? Then, why don't we seem to get it back until we're in our 50s? . . another mystery to ponder.
~C
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