Dogma off the Chain

I woke up early this morning to find out that the weather people got one right. “Big storm headed our way” were the dire warnings as I went to bed last night. One of our local television stations has what they call their “Severe Weather Center”. It is shown repeatedly throughout the day, and it does not matter if it is sunny and warm outside. We have this constant reminder that there could be severe weather at any moment. And what do we do? Of course we watch. There is something about seeing flooding in someone else’s basement that can keep us coming back for more. We had a tornado hit a neighborhood here about four years ago. The news still shows us flashes of that event. I guess that severe weather sells.

The big storm turned out to be about two inches in my neighborhood this morning. This is still enough snow to cause a two hour school delay. I never did understand these delays until this winter. It seems that the real purpose of a delay is to allow all of the parents enough time to call each other to determine if the school is really delayed or closed. If you call enough people then that can take about two hours in the morning. Of course, there are a few parents that actually get up fairly early, check to see if there is a delay, and then go back to sleep. When you call those parents they are pretty angry.

Whenever we have a delay I have a major decision to make. Which is better? Do you wake the boys up early to tell them that they can sleep in, or do you just let them sleep in and wander in later asking if there is a delay? Personally I like knowing that I just received a bonus. The opportunity to spend found time would seem to me to be the better choice. I have learned through negative feedback at my house that my family thinks differently. They prefer to sleep in and be surprised when they wake up with the light shining in their eyes. I am such a creature of habit that I just tend to get up at my regular time and go about my routine. Still, the delay does tend to throw off my finely tuned schedule, and it is absolutely unnerving for parents that still need to get to the office on time.

Today we had a dilemma because Thursday is “Chapel” day. Weekly chapel is a tradition at the school that my children attend. Chapel is a very well executed ecumenical tradition. Students of many faiths attend our school and so the ceremony primarily is an opportunity to allow for reflection and reinforcement of the values established within the school. I describe the service as the equivalent of “Dogma off the chain.” This tradition works and functions as a central part of the week for our children. During this roughly forty minute service students are recognized for achievements in both academics and character. Students and faculty alike participate in singing songs of hope and encouragement, and they begin to recognize the value in regularly taking time to reflect upon their individual faith.

Chapel begins at roughly 8:10 on Thursday morning. With today’s two-hour delay to the start of school we had a problem. You see attending chapel requires that the children dress in their school blazer, wear shoes instead of their normal sneakers, and put on a white shirt and tie (just imagine what your work place looked like twenty years ago and you get the picture). At the end of chapel of course all of the boys immediately strip off their ties, and promptly remove the dreaded leather shoes. In essence they return to the attire of children in school today.

This morning our telephone was buzzing as parents and children alike were completely confused about what to wear. The burning question of the morning was “will we have chapel today?” I first attempted to ward off this question with parental logic. I deduced that chapel was not necessarily a part of the educational requirements of a school day. As such, in a day shortened by two hours, chapel would be cancelled for this week. In the five years that our children have attended this school we have never had a reason to think about this as there has never been a school delay on Thursday. My parental logic was completely insufficient for my sons and so they decided that torturing their mother was the simplest recourse. Of course totally unaware of these events I went about the business of playing outside in the snow and pretending to clear the walkways.

When I returned to the house after getting wet enough outside I was informed of the issue of the day. Once again I tried to apply my parental logic but this time my sons would have none of it. They insisted that we had to talk with other parents and classmates. And it seems that in other households this same question was being pressed upon the parents.

I have written here before that my sons are twins. Contrary to what most people believe they are as different as night and day. Max was trying as hard as he might to exercise his considerable will on us to agree that he should dress in his chapel uniform. Alex is our free spirit. It was Alex that came up with the solution. Alex said that this decision is a decision in self-leadership. He said if Max wants to dress in his chapel uniform than he should do that. Alex went on to say that for him, he believed that this was a matter of personal choice. Since no rules had previously been established any choice you make can not be wrong and you can’t get into trouble. So, he was wearing his polo shirt, and school uniform trousers. I just stood back and experienced the feeling that you get when realize that your child really does get it.

Before the boys left for school today they asked me what I thought I was going to write about. They said “isn’t this the time that you usually spend brainstorming about what to write about?” Every day I try to look for examples of people, events and ideas around me that demonstrate the need for finding your V.O.I.C.E. I believe that exercising personal leadership is vitally important and have talked about it here The Leadership Compass.

Well Alex, I think you have your answer. I am not going to write about anything today. I am just going to report the story about why personal leadership is important in our life. Thank you for the demonstration.