Something Is Missing

Wednesday afternoon I witnessed two big  fights at my school.  Administrators and our school resource officer sprang into action quickly and no one was seriously injured but it was scary and disturbing and cast a pall over the rest of the week.  I don’t know the students involved or what caused the fights.  The only thing I know is that something must be missing in the lives of those young people.  It’s disheartening.

Wednesday night our local independent bookstore was hosting an author event and I went.  The author’s latest book is on my “Want to Read” list on Goodreads.  He mentioned that his father was an English teacher and that is where he got his love of books and reading and writing. When I went up to get my copy signed I told him I enjoyed not only the excerpts he read aloud, but the way he read them.  He thanked me, then smiled and said “My father was not only an English teacher, he also was a speech teacher and helped me learn the skills to speak and read to a crowd.”  No doubt that is true.  A lovely testament to a man most of the world will never know but who passed on something beautiful to his son who shares his gifts with the rest of us.

Friday night my husband’s high school had a ceremony to honor the man who had been principal and coach back in the 80’s. So many people turned out for this man. They all love him and talk about how he was a hands-on principal, who walked the halls and connected with students and to this day remembers all of their names.  Not only that, he  demanded they do what was right.. His influence is  immeasurable:  two sons became educators themselves and countless others were inspired to “do what was right”.  I know he was a father figure to my husband whose dad left when he was in 3rd grade.  The crowd on Friday night was there because they wanted to do something to honor their coach, their teacher, their mentor and father figure.

Saturday I finally finished “Without a Paddle” by Warren Richey, his account of paddling by sea kayak around the entire state of Florida as part of a race called The Florida Challenge.

Throughout the voyage, he often thought of his son, Jason, following the journey on his computer at school, telling friends “that’s my dad.”    His dad, who completed the Florida Challenge in 19 days, 6 hours and 48 minutes and wrote a book about it in order to tell the world the secret he learned: “It’s not about the glory of winning (although he did win).  It’s about something more.  Humility, not strength.  Submission, not force of will. Listening for those voices.That was a secret it took me 50 years and 1200 miles to discover.  That’s what I’m chasing out there on the water – the possibility that if I push harder and faster and longer, I might get a glimpse of something real, something eternal.”

Something.

 Something is missing with so many of our young people today.