ANd So The Session Ends
Well, thats it. The session is over. The kids have all gon back to their regular lives. The Student leaders have either made up the piles of homework that awaited them or, if they are like me, the haven't made any of it up, and in the long run, the grand scheme of things it has really had no effect on their lives what so ever. AS I reflect on the session, full of little things that burdenend me so, all the little things that made the session hard for me to bear, and all the little conflicts I had with staff memebers, and frustration I had to bear, my hope is that I had some sort of impact on the student leaders and the 6th graders. The staff will move on. THey will either return to ODS or they won't. They might even think of little things that made their session that much better.
My hope, is that as the kids (being SLs and 6th Graders) WIll also move on, but with a sense of self importance that they didn't know was within them. Or perhaps the idea that the world is bigger than simply that which lies within the 25 mile radius around them. I hope that they leave with the sense that someone, even if for only a week, loved them. I hope that they know, even if they have the shittiest life ever, that there is one better than the one they are liveing. In an ideal world, each of these kids would not learn anything from ODS. THey would already know that they are an important part of the world around them. They would already have a sense or responsibility for their community, they would already, for that matter know that they have a community. THe would already be touched by the carreses of love, and be warmed woth the knowledge that there is always someone there for them who cares about him.
IF only the world were Ideal.
My hope, is that as the kids (being SLs and 6th Graders) WIll also move on, but with a sense of self importance that they didn't know was within them. Or perhaps the idea that the world is bigger than simply that which lies within the 25 mile radius around them. I hope that they leave with the sense that someone, even if for only a week, loved them. I hope that they know, even if they have the shittiest life ever, that there is one better than the one they are liveing. In an ideal world, each of these kids would not learn anything from ODS. THey would already know that they are an important part of the world around them. They would already have a sense or responsibility for their community, they would already, for that matter know that they have a community. THe would already be touched by the carreses of love, and be warmed woth the knowledge that there is always someone there for them who cares about him.
IF only the world were Ideal.