School is out on the Island and the kids are free. Don鈥檛 you envy them?
Can you ever recapture that feeling of freedom on the last day of school? After 10 months of imprisonment, the whole summer lies ahead, glorious with possibilities. Nothing quite compares to that moment when you鈥檙e standing on the threshold of summer, not even the next day 鈥� on the first day of vacation, the dwindling of summer has already begun.
It鈥檚 an outlook in line with that of a colleague who commented last week on the summer solstice: 鈥淚t鈥檚 the longest day of the year. The days will start getting shorter now.鈥� He was implying that the descent toward the gloom of winter has begun.
The last-day-of-school excitement is an exquisite feeling, more precious because it is fleeting. As you get older, you realize the summer is finite, that it will be over all too soon. You realize life includes responsibilities. In the teen years, summer means looking for a job, a precursor to the realities of adult life.
Retirement might be similar to the end of the school year, but it鈥檚 not the same. When you鈥檙e young, two months of summer is a lifetime, an endless stretch of freedom and fun. At retirement, you have had to come to grips with mortality, and while you might have 20 good years left, you know your time is limited.
There are a few who try to hang on to that feeling. They spend their time pursuing pleasure and avoiding responsibility, building nothing and achieving little.
It鈥檚 an empty life. We can鈥檛 be eight or 10 years old forever.
But even though some of us are confined to office cubicles and jealous of the younger set enjoying the carefree days of July and August, summer is still worth celebrating and enjoying. We can鈥檛 store the golden moments for use in the grey days of January, so we should enjoy them as they happen, accept them as the unconditional gifts that they are.
I like it that our national holiday falls on July 1. Although the calendar tells us summer officially starts on June 21, Canada Day is the real gateway to summer. I鈥檓 not sure if it was good planning on the part of the fathers of Confederation, but I鈥檓 glad they didn鈥檛 put it in, say, January or February.
Oh, sure, I know people enjoy winter festivals all over the world, but it鈥檚 hard to imagine parades, fireworks, outdoor concerts and festivals in the dead of winter. That kind of celebration goes better with sunshine and shorts, fresh air and blue skies.
It鈥檚 a day to set aside political differences and regional rivalries, a time to look in wonder on this improbable experiment that is Canada. Let鈥檚 step away from our problems for a moment 鈥� they鈥檒l still be there when we get back, and maybe we can tackle them with fresher ideas and renewed enthusiasm.
If we celebrate our country鈥檚 riches, we鈥檒l be better equipped to work on poverty. If we reflect on the principles that strengthen the country, we can better deal with the corruption that weakens it.
Let鈥檚 be just 91原创s, at least for one day. Not English 91原创s, French 91原创s, Indo-91原创s or aboriginal 91原创s, just 91原创s united in our differences.
That doesn鈥檛 mean we all need to be the same 鈥� study of any natural habitat shows that monoculture is weakness while diversity is strength.
But enough serious talk 鈥� school鈥檚 out, summer is here. Let鈥檚 have fun.
Back to the subject of that last day of school. I remember one in particular 鈥� it was the day Grade 2 ended. We were a joyful crowd of five or six boys and girls, loaded down with leftover notebooks and pencils, giddy at being freed. No more teachers. No more bells. No more hunching over desks trying to make letters legible or numbers correct.
We plotted how to celebrate our newfound freedom, dreamed up adventures in the wild, explorations into unknown territory. The ideas flew back and forth on what we would do, now that we could call our time our own.
We hit on the perfect solution. We gathered on one of our porches, hauled out our pencils and notebooks, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing school.
