I’m not one to quote Richard Nixon, but he said one thing that has stuck with me ever since I heard it many years ago. On the day he resigned he gave a goodbye speech to the White House staff. Everyone in the room was very somber, and even Tricky Dick looked like he actually had a soul.While trying to comfort those who were disillusioned because of how things turned out, and reassure those who worried for him, he said, “Only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.”Perfect.
I’ve thought of this the past couple of days as my kids get ready to celebrate the last day of school—which is Friday—and the promise of a long summer yet to come. They’re at one of those peaks upon which it’s easy to enjoy the view. What could possibly be better than being a kid and knowing that you don’t have to go to school, that the weather’s going to be warm, and that there’s tons of fun to be had?Truth be told, they’d probably enjoy the last day of school no matter what they had to do to get there. I mean, who doesn’t like eleven weeks of staying up late, playing, and just being a kid? I’m thirty-seven years old and that sounds damn good to me!I don’t know whether they’ve thought about how much they should appreciate the summer—I suspect not—but I’ll probably try to explain it to them.I’ll remind them what it’s like to get up at 6:40 in the morning, and have me come into their rooms and turn the bedroom light on, and how difficult it is for their eyes to adjust.I’ll remind them how hard they’ve worked for the past nine months, and how every single day after school they had to do homework or read, even though they’d just spent seven hours in school.I’ll remind them of those cold days in January when they had to bundle up just to go out to the van, and how their hands bled because they were so dry, and how their ears were cold, and how they had no recess for weeks because the snow was above their ankles.They would have appreciated the summer no matter what, but after I get done talking to them they’ll be so glad that it’s summer that they’ll turn to my old routine during summers in high school: go to bed late and get up early so that the days are long and summer seems even longer.The American educational system has become so quantitatively driven in our surge toward higher test scores, and more science, and more math, and more classroom time, and more, more, more, that I think we’ve forgotten that sometimes kids just need to be kids. That’s what summer is for.And my kids will be kids this summer.But I’ll also be sure that they realize how great the view is from that mountaintop. Friday I’ll remind them that not every day can be May 22. But May 22 is that much sweeter when we have to endure August 12, and December 5, and January 24. They’ve made it through the valleys. Now they get to enjoy the mountains.Lest you think this is just a lesson about the last day of school, think about how it applies to your own life. Chances are it’s been a fair number of years since you experienced first-hand the excitement of the last day of school. But no doubt you’ve been to the mountaintop in other ways. You’ve enjoyed the view. You’ve marveled at what’s before you, and doubted that it could get any better than that.And you might be right. That view might be gorgeous. It might be the best thing you’ve ever seen. But unless you’ve been in the valley, unless you’ve looked around and seen only darkness, and sadness, and hopelessness, unless you’ve looked ahead and realized that you’ve got a huge mountain to climb, you don’t fully appreciate that view.Eventually, summer arrives though. You make it to that mountaintop. You look back at what you’ve done and maybe you’re surprised. Maybe you don’t even remember how you got there. Maybe you don’t remember how you overcame the challenges along the way.You remember that valley though. And now that you’re on that mountain, the valley seems awfully far away.PREVIOUS POST: My Daughter Came to Work with Me TodayIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: It's Eat Whatever You Want Day!+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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