Sometimes I feel old and crotchety. If I’m at the store or dining out and I see a young person acting up, I grumble to myself, “I never got away with acting like that!” or “My kids never behaved that way.”
Or, the ultimate curmudgeon comment, “Kids these days!”
Actually though I am more often impressed by “Kids these days.” When I was growing up we were not as worldly as young people today. In recent years, Cook County students have taken baseball trips to Florida, band trips to Nashville, trips abroad to England and Greece and more.
The longest trip I ever took without my parents before graduating was to Minneapolis. I remember being unnerved by elevators and completely undone by escalators. I still don’t like escalators. They are scary. There are no moving, jagged-edged metal stairways here in Cook County.
So it is with awe that I watch the children of our community travel far and wide, taking on adventures that would still make me nervous.
I’m also impressed with their athletic prowess and scholarly activities. It is fun to watch Cook County kids playing football or volleyball or running or skiing. They are great competitors academically too. We frequently have news of students taking part in Knowledge Bowl, College in the Schools offerings, Robotics and more.
So most of the time when I say, “Kids these days,” I mean it in a complimentary way.
I have never been more proud of our local students than this past Monday during the Cook County High School Band Veterans Day Band Concert. I was already pretty proud of the school for putting together a Veterans Day program. The fact that the student council set up a “Cookies for Troops” drive touched my heart.
So I didn’t think I could be more impressed. I was wrong. The behavior of the students at the band concert— ranging from kindergarten to seniors in high school—was downright amazing.
The varsity gym where the program was being held was buzzing before the concert. Students were running up and down the bleacher steps, calling out to their friends, jiggling around in their seats, giggling and generally being “kids these days.”
However, when the concert started, when American Legion Post 413 marched in bearing the United States, Minnesota and American Legion flags, the buzz slowed down. The gym got quieter.
As the National Anthem was played, students stood with no prompting. While bagpipes played and guest speaker Leonard Sobanja spoke, students sat and listened respectfully. When Mr. Sobanja finished his speech and requested a minute of silence in observance of Veterans Day, in remembrance of those lost in war, students complied completely.
You could have heard a pin drop in the normally noisy varsity gym. As I quietly meditated on the meaning of the day, I waited for the inevitable interruption. A rude comment, a silly noise, a loud laugh. There was none.
There was only respectful silence until Mr. Sobanja said thank you and returned to his seat. There was then thunderous applause. I joined in, clapping in appreciation of Mr. Sobanja’s speech, in recognition of all our veterans—and also with pride in our “kids these days.”
The respect of those you respect is
worth more than the applause of the
multitude.
Arnold Glasglow
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