All of Our Nest

Seven years is a long time to be a teenager. It's a long time to be judged, a long time to have the pressure of your future on your shoulders, to be told what to do and how to do it, to desire independence yet still depend on your caregivers and educators. It's a long time to have the physical and emotional pain of growth and expectations. But, if we look closely, we can learn so much from them.

Remember what it was like as you judge this group of kids, try to understand that not all of what they do defines them yet. Not yet. Did you not forgot most of your time in this uncomfortable dimension? They are impressionable and malleable, defensive of their rights and privileges. They are absorbing their surrounding world at a rate we all experienced at infancy, a rate we all secretly envy.

Who is more flexible? Who do we expect more of? Who is more alive?

Who is going to pick up where we left off?

Who will they become if we're only showing them that they're not good enough?