Sunday Sermon

May 13, 2007 | Sunday Sermon

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love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

e.e. cummings

Super Powers

Apr 29, 2007 | Sunday Sermon

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Your kindergarten teacher has called us in to discuss, amongst other things, her concern over your insistence that you have Super Powers. She informs us that you believe you can see in the dark. That you claim to have cat eyes that magically imbue you with the ability to see better in the dark than the average mortal. I swallow a grin. Your father looks at me with that “I told you this would come back to haunt you” look of his he reserves for when my parenting style rounds back to bite us.

“It seems that your son has a fantastical sense of self and frankly this concerns me,” she begins. “In fact, he seems to believe that you share his gift as well!” she concludes, eying me.

I don’t like your teacher. She is shrill—prone to exaggeration and hysteria. And I certainly don’t approve of any teacher who thinks having a fantastical sense of self is a deficit. How anyone could see your best asset as a deficit is beyond me—not viewable with see-in-the-dark eyes!

I fight back my urge to laugh, “That would be entirely my fault. You see, when he was quite young (as if you are ancient now!) I thought it would be fun if we had Super Powers. So I did a little inventing—call it whimsy! Perhaps it was misguided, but in general, I think our son is as grounded as most five year olds can be,” I explain. She is not amused. Your father is torn between feeling outraged at being dragged to yet another pointless parent-teacher conference and being chagrined that my whimsy has become the topic of yet another pointless parent-teacher conference. I can’t help but wonder, what’s the harm? Give me some credit as a parent—it’s not like I told you that you could fly. This falls into the same category for me as Santa or the Leprechaun who visits us every year.

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