Thursday AM to PM

Soon a student, a senior, is scheduled to come by for an appointment.  There's a strong chance he won't come. Tomorrow is the last day of classes for seniors, so I get it. We've been talking for some time about talking. I taught him in honors Chumash two years ago and since last year I've been his guidance counselor. It's nice to have closure, like I did yesterday with another student that I taught in that same (wonderful) class and have also worked with as guidance counselor since last year.

Over the (nine) years I have used this venue to sometimes take a moment during my workday and non-work day to write here.  I've often wondered who reads what and who thinks what.  To a large extent I will never know who reads what and who thinks what about what I post here.

Still, I write, and wonder, here.

It's an honor to work with students in this venue. Recently one student shared thoughts about how he overcame his fear of speaking up in class.  Another student spoke about how he wants to provide for himself asap and doesn't like to take more than he needs to from his parents 9even though they're happy to give).  Another student weighed thoughts back and forth about going to Israel when he reaches that post high school year.

Time has gone by as it always does(until it doesn't). That student came by (he reminded himself via his IPhone  and we had a great talk about all kinds of stuff.  Largely we spoke about the nature of high school.  We looked at some of this article about the effects of the high school years on life.

As Harry Chapin sings in "Flowers Are Red,"Time went by, like it always does." I'm home, working.

I just got an email from a journalist who said that he quoted me in an article but not by name, adding that while citing by name may bring redemption it also can make his job obsolete.  It reminded me of when I shared a Dvar Torah with a colleague.  He said, "I'm going to use that and not quote you."

Rabbi Norman Lamm once said that when he visited the Kotel for the first time he was disappointed.  And when he went for the second time it was the most moving experience of his life.  He explained that initially  he had unrealistic expectations and was bound for disappointment.  The second time he had a realistic sense and was therefore able to take in the holiness.

That reminds me of a poem I recently wrote.  Ironically, I think it's one of my best.  I hope that by putting it out here it is appreciated (and not stolen):

Bottom Line

By Neil Fleischmann

The danger of the danger is not danger but the

That word – the – is most dangerous of all

We dream about the girl, the job, the life

Instead of loving a girl, doing a job, living a life

This will not be the poem to change it all for us

You are a reader, I am a writer, this is a poem

Today has been rich, a lot of guiding, listening, teaching.

Since I've gotten home I've been busy.  I have an article that is due for submission.  And lessons to prepare. And, as Harry Chapin sings in "Remember When the Music," (Springsteen tribute version found here) "promises to keep." It was a good quote when Robert Frost famously used it first.