Later today I will take my six-year-old for a doctor’s
appointment. Her doctor’s office happens
to be located inside of Children’s Hospital. Children’s Hospital in Boston is the most amazing medical facility that I prefer walking away from (with my
child) each time we go. We were lucky to
have it near our house (one subway stop away) when my daughter needed emergency
care there a year and half ago, and we were luckier still to have left there the
next day, healthy.
What does this have to do with Academic Support? Maybe not
too much, but I think what I learn about life and perspective just by walking
through the lobby at Children’s Hospital and to the doctor’s office each time I
go might be a valuable reminder for our students. I usually leave our appointments weak-kneed
and giddy with relief. The sun is never
warmer and sky is never bluer than the moment we leave and rejoin our lives.
But I cannot help thinking of the people who are still
there. There are the parents of the
children without hair and the parents who look tired and pained. We were the tired and pained ones once—for a
day and a half—and had it been longer I surely would have melted into the
ground and been tracked on the bottom of someone’s shoes. And then, of course, there are the children
themselves.
I did not set out to be maudlin when beginning this post; but my point is this: law
school exams rank very, very, very, very low on the unpleasant scale of life when
you have some perspective. (ezs)
