I watch them as they trundle down the street, their little shoulders straining against the backward drag of heavy backpacks.
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The kids are on their way to school, a new school year – tests, friends, enemies, homework, report cards, parent-teacher conferences, living up to potential …
It’s difficult.
Yet, as I watch the kids, one feeling almost overwhelms me: Jealousy.
Jealous of children? Not actually, I guess. And not exactly nostalgia, either.
It’s not something the kids themselves would understand. A lot of kids see the start of a new school year as an end. An end to summer.
But we adults know different. The beginning of a new school year isn’t an end. It’s a beginning.
Most likely, kids don’t understand this. Kids don’t yet understand a lot of things, which is one of the reasons they are kids. Height is another reason.
The start of school is something rare and precious. It is another chance.
Nothing is soiled by past errors.
Classes are new. Teachers are new. Clothes are new. Books are new. Pencils are new and come with erasers uncontaminated by mistakes.
Computer screens are blank, ready and receptive to work, doodles or perhaps a new theory of relativity – hey, you never know.
A child may have been a disruptive influence last year, may not have lived up to his or her potential.
Doesn’t matter.
This is a new school year. Each kid starts from scratch.
This year is going to be better.
A new beginning. A second chance.
New beginnings and second chances aren’t so easy for adults to come by. And chances usually come with a high cost – something has to be given up, sacrificed.
But just think. What would you give up to wake up tomorrow morning and start fresh? Mistakes wiped out. Not having to pay today for the debt you incurred yesterday?
Not likely.
But for kids, this happens each and every year.
Ah, it’s great to be a kid.
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But, then, you probably knew that.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.