“Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin,
the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet
desperation.’ Don’t be resigned to
that. Break out!” (From Dead Poets Society)
We visited St. Andrews in Delaware about a month before our
kids were out of school. We were
on a road trip and The Dad mentioned that we were not too far from it, and so
we stopped. It was serene and
every bit as beautiful as it is in the movie Dead Poets Society.
I don’t often like to wander around places when it’s not
clear whether or not it’s permitted. I don’t particularly like that about
myself, and I’m sad that I seem to have passed that on to my offspring. The Boy kept asking if we were going to
get in trouble and The Girl was hesitant to stray too far from our car. I have indeed instilled in them a
respect for rules. And I often
wonder if that’s what I really want.
“Run,” I told them when we got to the courtyard where the
lockstep scene takes place. “Run. Jump.” They were happy to obey, but then I
realized that even though they were laughing, they were still obeying.
“Actually. Just
do what you want. Okay? Do what feels right.”
