"Adrift..............................."

Monday was the first of three consecutive days of pre-school classes in an effort to amass twenty-four hours require since they are already part of my yearly paycheck. There were four scheduled yesterday, all chosen by me from a list of titles that often give you little idea of the subject matter, no real explanation otherwise shared; so, as it turned out, of the three one-hour sessions, I found myself in one which provided me with nothing applicable to my job and another which informed us of little other than the fact that “we all have our days”, everybody goes through “moods”. First out of the barrel, however, introduced me to available on-line, free-to-all, educational instruction through something called the “Kahn Academy”, growing more all the time and day, now a nation-wide phenomenon. I’m thinking my grandson could use a little help with his algebra and even this old man might take a whack at chemistry or physics… It was actually the longer two-hour session, though, that has remained with me. It was taught by the same woman who shared with us that it’s alright to have our ups and downs, but this one dealt with the under-lying reasons for any child’s behavior, a huge picture of an iceberg utilized to emphasize such truth and all of us asked to give three possible similarities between that floating mass of frozen water and that student who might be a problem in some way. Almost everyone caught the idea of our only seeing the “tip” of what actually goes much deeper. Some spoke, as well, of my own thoughts concerning both sides of the equation being cold, yet melting if warmth is applied. In such company, however, it seemed to me better to keep my third perception to myself, a suggestion that neither “object” under discussion had any anchorage. Pointing it out, of course, wouldn’t necessarily have had to be addressed in a spiritual sense, good parents being, as I see it, able to provide such need for a child. It’s just that, without being inwardly secured, themselves, to a Creator who is over all, surely there is a greater potential for shipwreck all around; and I’m not so sure the lady in front of us, a product of modern psychology, would have wanted to go sailing into those waters…..