Wanting good things for others-including snow days

Let’s go back in time. Think back to when you were young. There were no smartphones to wake you; instead, it was probably one of those brown, rectangular, screeching alarm clocks on the nightstand. There was likely a radio in the kitchen or a television in the living room that had the morning radio or TV show bringing the house to life as the sun rose. And if life was really good, there was a bowl of sweet, sugary cereal sitting on the kitchen counter in the morning.

Now, let’s add that you woke up to several inches of snow on the ground outside, the wind is whipping the trees and drifts are forming outside the front door.

What is the first thing you do? You rushed to sit next to that radio or in front of the TV because there was only one thing you needed to know at that time of day. Whether it was listening as the radio announcer read through all the surrounding schools or the names of schools scrolled along the bottom of the morning TV show, you waited anxiously to see the name of your school.

Because for kids, there is nothing better than two little words: snow day.

For argument’s sake, we know that kids should be in school as much as possible. They need the guidance of their teachers. They need the structure that comes with a school day. They need the socialization that happens with their peers.

But there is just something about having a spontaneous, unplanned day off from school that feels different from the weekends or the scheduled vacation days on the school calendar. There aren’t any doctor appointments scheduled, so the student doesn’t miss class time. There isn’t packing because you are leaving on a vacation.

The day can truly be devoted to a kid being a kid: watching cartoons all day, going outside to sled, eating the ice cream their parents forgot about.

The only thing that could interfere with this blissfulness is perhaps a parent who is organized enough to have a list of chores ready and waiting for the day their child has extra time at home.

For the most part, a snow day is a nice break in the winter doldrums, both for students and teachers.

But not everyone agrees with that idea.

Earlier this week, during McCook’s snow day, I had the privilege of working from home alongside the rest of my family. In the background, we had the radio playing and McCook’s morning call-in show, OpenLine, was on.

I wasn’t fully listening until a caller’s comments caught my attention because he was lamenting about the kids not being in school that day. Because of technology, they should have been having class regardless of the weather. He took it even further that the teachers should be worried about their jobs because they weren’t teaching that day.

I would like to insert here that my husband, a high school English teacher, was sitting at the dining room table at that moment, grading essays on what was technically a day off for him. But as any teacher and the spouse of any teacher can tell you, the teacher’s hours are not limited to the school day. Nearly all of them take work home, stay late after school for the kids and spend countless hours coaching.

But back to the caller. I am assuming that this elderly gentleman had snow days when he was a boy. Most likely, he had the joy of getting up for school, hearing it was canceled and going back to bed. He probably enjoyed a day of sledding with his friends and just hanging out around his house. And even if he had one of those parents who put him to work on the day off, it was at least a change in routine for the day.

While this issue was about kids and teachers being off from school for a snow day, it actually highlighted a bigger topic to me: wanting better things for others, perhaps even better than you had for yourself.

Why can’t we be happy for others when good things happen to them? If you want to appreciate a snow day, go to Kelley Park in McCook, stand at the bottom and listen to the screams of joy and laughter as the kids slide down the hill. Or drive around the neighborhoods and look at the snowmen that fill the front yard.

I saw this lack of wanting better things for others when I was on the McCook pool committee. There were people who were against a new pool because what they had growing up was good enough. That is true; the pool built in 1937 was great. But 80 years took its toll on the facility, and we owed it to the next generation to give them a nice recreational facility.

I have heard this same argument about building or improving the schools: “What we have was good enough for me.” Again, time takes its toll on everything. We need to make improvements and we want to make it better for others.

Don’t we want things better for our children and grandchildren? Don’t we want things better for our friends and neighbors? Don’t we want things better for our future?

Yes, this was just about snow days and allowing kids to have a free day once in a while. Who knows all the reasons behind the caller’s thoughts….he could have been having a bad day, maybe he had to scoop his sidewalk himself or maybe he was just jealous that he no longer got to sit by the radio to learn if he had a snow day.

But looking at the bigger picture, we should all want better things for ourselves as well as for others, even if it doesn’t directly benefit us. We should want good things to happen for ourselves and others, especially if it includes snow and flying down a hill.