Tradition

“Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.”

–     Arthur Schlesinger (1917-2007), American historian and social critic

Science and technology rule my days, but Saturday night, I’ll take part in a tradition that frames, but also softens my response.

My sister is a dance teacher.  I mean, she’s a dance teacher who has touched the lives of over a thousand young girls and boys over 39 years of teaching dance.  (In a town of about 9,500 folks…)  For 35 (or is it 36?) of those years, I’ve been the Master of Ceremonies for her annual recital.  It’s tradition.  It means a lot to me.  I think it means something to her.

Science and technology revolutionize my  career, heck they make it possible, but tradition still feels really right to me.

It’s a longer commute this year.  It’s tough to leave a family still settling in to our new surroundings for the weekend, but it’s tradition.

And, along with our extended family and about 500 or so parents, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas and friends of a little over 100 kids, I’ll see an almost four-decade veteran of difference making.

The kids that prance, dance, preen (or just freeze) on that stage will be better for it.  In a job interview.  In a crucial conversation.  When the game is on the line and the free throw they’re about to shoot will decide it.  They will have been prepared for that moment.  By my sister.

My sister gets them ready and gets them on stage.  She makes a difference.

I relish in the tradition, and I admire her gift and ability to do it, year after year after year after year.