Time for Recess!

As a classroom teacher, I dealt with my fair share of playground squabbles. He said – she said … he did – she did … on and on around the mulberry bush we would go in order to get to the bottom of said squabble. Occasionally we did arrive at the bottom. But sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes the truth eluded us. In the end, it didn’t always matter whether the full truth evolved or remained hidden. What mattered the most was our ability to move beyond the moment … to take hold of the situation in our minds and in our hearts and to be able to find a way through (and often around) the impasse.

You see, we had to go back into that classroom and live out the remaining days of fourth grade … together. We didn’t have the luxury of prematurely exiting our four walls and advancing to the next grade. Instead, we had the power to do something greater.

We could exit the moment … give it a farewell and move on. We had to. Our well-being as a classroom depended on our ability to do so. For the most part, we were successful. Ten-year-olds have shorter memories than adults do. They more easily move on from moments, especially the ones that (in the end) carry little weight as it pertains to long-term success. The “he said-she said” and the “he did-she did” weren’t so significant when there was a game to get back to … a sidewalk to chalk … a monkey bar to cross … a slide to go down … a secret to share.

Life on the playground was meant for fun. And the kids knew it. I think that this was the key to their ability to “move on” from the tougher moments. They wanted to get back to the fun.

Life in real life isn’t much fun these days. Long gone are the once imagined and then realized playground romps. Instead, we’re mostly strapped to our seats in the classroom, living out this endless stretch of spring, anticipating the glorious arrival of summer break.

This virus has us stuck in the fourth grade, friends, at least for a moment or two longer. And the kids sitting next to us? Well, some of them we like and some of them we don’t. Call it the “luck of the draw” or “how the cookie crumbles.” Either way, we have what we have–you’re stuck with them and they’re stuck with you. And if we’re smart, we’ll start acting like fourth graders bound for the playground instead of insisting on acting like adults in the boardroom.

Let’s move on from our squabbling. Let’s find a way to shake hands without always having to be right. Let’s get back to the playground … back to the game, the chalking, the crossing, the sliding, and the sharing. Life is just more fun on the playground. This doesn’t mean there won’t be squabbles; instead, it simply and most beautifully means that we’re willing to settle our differences because on the other side of that settlement is something more precious to us …

Fun. Life together and life lived out in peace until the summer bell rings, and we’re all released from this academic obligation.

Together, we’re learning. Together, we’re stretching toward summer. Together, let’s have some fun.

I’ll meet you on the playground. As always…

Peace for the journey,