Fight hard, but cherish the good stuff
Sometimes it’s easy to forget why we wrestle with all these thorny issues. The health of our economy. The quality of our schools. Public safety, the environment. What does it all add up to?
Last night I was one of hundreds of beaming parents who crowded into Saranac Lake High School’s auditorium for an astonishing holiday concert.
The young people were resplendent in their black ties and gowns.
Their voices soared. Their faces glowed with the passion of the music, from the “Hallelujah Chorus” to the spiritual “Wade In the Water” to a jaunty “New York, New York.”
Choral director Helen Demong and band leader Keith Kogut remarked again and again that this is a community that values the arts, where kids play rough on the football field but also follow in the footsteps of Duke Ellington.
I know it’s a cliche to say that we place our hope and our optimism in our young people. But sitting in that crowd last night, hope and optimism is exactly what I felt.
Yes, times are tough. The economy is sour. We’re at war. We are, in many ways, a society divided. But that’s not the whole story.
During the final number, Helen asked choir alumni to climb up on the stage and join in the song. It was cool to see how how many people came forward, eager to raise their voices together.
I can’t help but think that this is what it’s all about.
As we make cuts and sacrifices, surely nurturing and enriching young people — and creating beautiful moments like this one — have to remain top priorities.
Tags: adirondacks, arts, education
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Amen, Brian.
Arriving 15 minutes early, I found the parking lot filled to overflowing with cars placed hundreds of feet from the entrance.
My wife said that the concert renewed her energy, and I realized that it renewed mine, too. Another person this morning told me that the beauty of the performance brought chills running down her back.
The music program is as important as anything else the school does.
I think the kids are great but let me play bah humbug for a moment.
We need to stop placing all our hope for the future upon the young. It’s a form of kicking the can down the road.
Currently, the future is our responsibility, not theirs. They won’t have much of a future unless we assume our responsibility now.
“As we make cuts and sacrifices, surely nurturing and enriching young people — and creating beautiful moments like this one — have to remain top priorities.”
True, but some of the money can be raised via fundraisers or donations.
I love this post, and agree about the feeling of renewal you have when you leave a school production, flying high on the renewed belief in what our children and communities are capable of. Interestingly, I remember doing the same things in the community I grew up in- but it wasn’t to the same financial tune. I know we can’t go back in time- but that sense of community and hope was the same then, where the school looked like a big house, with worn wooden steps and one class per grade. My father was chairman of the school board, which meant he would fix the boiler after milking, and the teachers would come have dinner with us on occasion. It was a different world- imperfect- but never confuse the ability and potential of our children with the bureaucratic layers and financial bloat typical of current education.