Cabin Fever

Working in a high school always brings certain entertainments and challenges. One of which is SPRINGTIME! It seems every year when March 1st hits, chaos ensues even if the weather hasn't started warming yet.  The longer days noticeably developing, the change of the sports seasons, the beginning of the change of the seasons, makes everyone forget that there's still 3 months of school left and that they are *not* free to do whatever their heart desires immediately. My friend Carlos calls the youth of today the "Entertainment Generation" because if their attention is not occupied with technology, movies, music, television, computers, video games, etc. then they are not satisfied and "bored" out of their minds. What is it like to be bored? I don't know. I've never been one to be bored a lot...I don't even remember the last time I was...I always manage to keep busy...and if I have "nothing" to do, then I am creating...dabbling with art projects, scrapbooking, writing something (even if only a letter). Today's young people do not know how to occupy their time without something from the entertainment or electronics industries. So sad but definitely true.

I once was grounded for an entire summer. No television, no radio, no outdoor adventures, no friends. I was in my room the entire summer. Yet, I do not remember being bored...if I was, it was fleeting. Besides ALLLLLLL the "lines" I had to write as my punishment, I moved my furniture in my room around (I was 7 or 8 and did it all by myself so it took quite awhile and was quite a project), I wrote in a diary, I voraciously read, I colored and drew, I wrote poems, I played with my toys, I organized my drawers and closet...I somehow managed to keep myself very occupied the entire summer. It was a valuable lesson not only in how to behave, but in occupying my time.

That's something young people should learn these days.

That's also *not* to say that I wasn't bursting at the seems, just waiting to get off punishment so that I could run free. Sometimes, I feel that this is how most kids feel all the time about their school life and getting out of school. And that's why everyone seems crazy as soon as March hits...it's a collective behavior issue: MASS/COLLECTIVE CABIN FEVER. Of which the only cure is summer....and although I would have never minded year-round school, cabin fever is a good argument to *not* cut summer vacations out!