10/15/14

We are in the magnificent Yosemite National Park. Eh-Co is in Yo-se-mite! It doesn’t have the same allure that the Upperfalls of Yellowstone had or the canyons of Bryce did. But at least it doesn’t feel as crowded. I don’t feel like all our neighbors hate us for banging pots together at 6 a.m. Good morning, park!

            Yosemite has this super cool program for middle schoolers called Nature Bridge and they take kids out of school for a week to put them in cabins and experience Yosemite in a sort of camp-like environment. The counselors show them teambuilding activities, leadership skills, outdoor education, and how to be a successful group- very much like what we are doing. The kids get to venture through the sequoia trees and granite cliffs and experience something completely alien to their lives back at Malibu.

            Shadowing the kids today was a nice break from my fellow classmates. We were able see a group one on one as an outsider looking in- making observations and judgments, and correlating things we’ve been learning about with things happening before our eyes. When the tables have turned, it’s amazing the things you’ll notice and think, “whoa, do we do that?”

            The first thing you notice is the cootie separation. The lack of hormones in eleven-year-olds is obvious. They refuse to admit that standing next to the opposite sex is cool. The second thing I noticed were their personalities, all so different and so distinct. Each of them knowing what they like and what they hate, when they are happy or angry, when they feel left out, unfairly treated, or outcast. They don’t even have to think about why they are this way, they just are. They were all so simple-minded. There was no over analyzing a situation or dwelling on the little things like we are known to do. Everything is natural. Jason, a boy in my program, was victim to actions and words from the other kids and adults in our group. He helped me realize that the only thing holding me back is myself. He helped me realize other things, too. We are those kids.  We’re being thrown into new experiences, not knowing what to do with them, making mistakes, having meltdowns, whining like little babies… but we aren’t quite there yet. We cannot think like these fifth grade students can. We have a way of making our thoughts so complex we lose sight of the important stuff- like being a kid, getting yelled at, yelling at each other, crying… you can get the idea. So I think the solution to all our problems can be fixed if we all just act like fifth graders! Nah, just kidding. Let’s focus on being ourselves and not think about it too much.

Cassidy depoy