Kindergarten But Temporarily

Friday was one of those days I experienced profound gratitude for the privilege of working in a space surrounded by smiling countenances. I had the good fortune of walking from a gathering of middle schoolers who actually sang and laughed prior to welcoming a visiting guest from New York who described the challenges of creating a joint Palestinian-Israeli Sesame Street, to the courtyard where melodious voices of young Kinders rang out as they sat in the newly built and decorated outdoor sukkah. This structure, which we are told to build every year following the High Holy Days, sits as a reminder of all that is temporary and fleeting in life. While I ambulate through my days with an unshakable air of security and safety (and the economy buckles at the knees, teetering on the brink of collapse), I thank the stars above that scenes of fragile five year olds singing with vigor under a flimsy structure of but a few boards and screws, that scenes such as these are placed in my path as reminders of all that is right in the world, and all that screams for repair.