Everything getting easier

The pastures are green and there are many new calves cavorting around. The oak trees are dripping pollen and catkins and many wild flowers have sprung up. The hummingbirds have returned and today I saw the first of the swallow tailed kites circling overhead. Owl sex is rampant and we hear their loud chuckling and hooting every night. The vegetable garden is beautiful and about to pop up with a huge harvest. The asparagus is up.
We might have a light frost tonight so I have covered the tender vegetables with sheets.
I have now completed week five with the Boys and Girls Club math group. It is getting easier! This week, the math class was the last thing I thought I'd have energy to do. I'd put in a full amount of time in St. Pete, and then a long commute to speak with the community gardeners at Lacoocee school, then a couple of hours in the second grade classroom painting tee shirts, inspecting the science fair experiment (that lives outside), and reading a couple of chapters of "Danny, the Champion of the World".
Then, on to the math class, down the road past the side of life where folks are just hanging on. I get out the stuff from the car trunk, carry it in and begin setting up the white board and laying out the materials for each child.
Somehow, this place doesn't smell so bad as it used to. In fact there are several places (if I squint my eyes) that look positively cheerful.
Promptly at four p.m. ten kids appear. They are ready to get started. One boy, Javier presents me with a $1.00 word! Acceptors. All the kids have been working to come up with a $1.00 word. They cheated and copied and brought in words that were not exactly worth 100 points. So, now, Javier has found one. And I cheerfully present him with a crisp dollar.
Taja(Tajay), a very black and handsome boy asks me, "Ms. Molly, why are you here doing this?" A good question. I later think that he is trying to test me, but for now I give him my best answer. "I love kids and I love math and I think that volunteering is giving back from a life that has given much to me."
He responds, "But why should I be here? I am so tired from all the school work I did today." I say to him that he does not have to be here, and neither do I. He can choose not to be here if he wants. And of course, there is this chorus of voices from the other kids :"You know the rules! If you leave, you can't come back!" So, Taja squirms a bit but stays and settles down.
Javier and David are working on their pages. I spend a few minutes with them to introduce a new concept and they immediately 'get' it and move on. The others are struggling at times so I hunker down with them to explain. They are so needy! By now, everyone is able to see that they need to focus and stop doing uproars that tear all concentration. The low hum of meaningful activity is becoming the norm. We are all comfortable. The three wobbly tables in the pool room are populated with kids on the same level more or less.
Except for Saleem. This wonderfully handsome and winsome boy is twelve and still in the fourth grade. I gave him a calculator, thinking it might help. He was a child left behind, evidently. But on my watch, he, by gum, won't be left behind anymore! He's not up to this Hands On! algebra yet, but he comes each week and we are working on the addition and subtraction math facts. When the class was over Saleem went out smiling, tucking the new calculator in his pocket.
I was in St.Pete this week and spent time at my old school. The kids were coming to the end of rehearsals for the Shakespearean play they are presenting next week. These wonderful and privileged children, many with helicopter parents who support everything, are a delight to me!
But this huge socioeconomic chasm saddens me. My Lacoochee guys will have few chances at the brass ring.
But, now as a volunteer, just maybe I can help a few of these kids see their potential.

Pray for the Japanese who have been dealt such a blow, affirm the peoples in the Middle East and north Africa who struggle for democracy, and do not be passive in our own country and let the mean spirited and fearful prevail.