new actors in the play
the French have a saying:
"the more things change, the more they remain the same,"
I have often found that a discouraging idea,
fearing that despite our hopes for progress,
we slip again and again into dysfunction,
today I saw a hopeful take on that continuity,
of true lessons learned again, and practiced,
a relatively new Friends high school teacher
has, on his own, brought kids from his chemistry class
to the early school, where they demonstrate
the "wow" of science to 3-5 year-olds,
a potentially magic time when doors can lead into wonder, or maybe not,
this teacher remembers both being a kid
and the doors that opened for him, or didn't,
the young ones circled on the floor
before his caring students, belying stereotypes of the distant adolescent,
they carefully, sensitively shared the "wow" of the demonstrations,
I loved to see the soft caring within the high school students
who knew how to tend the curiosity and wonder
within the young ones before them,
responding with care to ideas that missed the mark,
and more enthusiastically when a 5 year old knew what a "catalyst" is,
as a school we just published a book of stories from former staff
who used their time with their students, well,
how wonderful to see that same care, that same vision
still alive and well,
things change,
thank God the centrality of love, competence, and joy,
has not changed, just new actors in the play.
by Henry H. Walker
May 15, ‘25