The Children Are Watching

One of the unexpected and delightful aspects of living at Tantur is the presence of children. Many of them. Some staff and graduate students doing research or writing their dissertations are the parents of young children — 8 of them as of last week, but that census is always changing as people come and go.

Joseph. Sebastian. Carmel. Zoe. Ari. Amanda. Rowan. Daniel. Ranging in age from 14 months to 10 years. And quite a cast of characters they are. Meals in the common dining room are always convivial, but also entertaining with the antics and charm of the kids. Particularly in the dazed aftermath of the massacre in Las Vegas last week, the children provided a welcome and joyful diversion for at least this adult.

A couple weeks ago, a volunteer couple (Dana and Maureen, themselves grandparents) decided the children needed more outdoor toys, and a kids’ party to inaugurate the new toys. The Rector dug into the budget to buy, among other things, an inflatable pool and a slide. Maureen saw to the brownies, and in a storeroom somewhere in this huge facility, Dana found an ice cream maker, the old-fashioned kind that requires ice and salt around the central reservoir filled with cream, sugar, vanilla and egg… and a hand-crank (the older kids were put to work on the crank!).

Maureen was designer and referee for the games: relay races including the 3-legged variety; another involving an egg (raw) on a spoon held aloft while running; and a third required a plastic spoon held between upper lip and nose while holding a paper plate between the knees. It’s hard to say who won, but the volume of laughter measured the fun. And not only the kids: parents and graduate students jumped right into the fun too.

The children were not only having fun — they were watching the adults have fun — no alcohol, no daredevil antics, no laughter at anyone’s expense, just good great joy. They’ll remember this in a few years when they may see other less wholesome ways of partying.

Another example: in the dining room recently, we had rice noodles for supper, tomato sauce to top them, and if you wanted, pieces of chicken. One of the boys, I noticed, was picking up masses of noodles with his fork, lifting it to his mouth, and biting off chunks of the mass. Some strands slapped his face, others fell back to his plate. I was using what I think of as the “Italian method” — twirling some noodles on the end of a fork until I had a nice, tight ball the right size to fit my mouth without the noodles painting my face. After a few minutes, I saw the boy was imitating my method.

The children are watching. No matter what we do, they are watching, and they will imitate us. Let’s remember that as we react and move forward after the horrific murders in Las Vegas. The children are watching.

Author: kathleenschatzberg

I'm a writer, an educator -- 45 years in education, 35 of them in community colleges -- and a lifelong advocate for justice (community colleges are, in fact, instruments of social justice). I have always been passionate about learning, traveling, and understanding the world's religions and political systems. This "Crossroads" blog offers my reflections on living for 7 months as a volunteer at Tantur Ecumenical Institute. On a hill in Jerusalem, within sight of Bethlehem, Tantur hosts students, scholars, and seeker for interfaith engagement and theological and biblical study. View all posts by kathleenschatzberg