Today I volunteered to do vision screening at the kids' school. It is a high touch low tech volunteer opportunity. You are like a machine running kids through the simple vision screening cycle and sending the 'retesters' (not to be confused with rejects) to the more serious screening place. This can make for a long monotonous experience except that the individual kids make it interesting. It was fun to witness the different "makes and models": confident kids, meek and mild kids, bored kids, clueless kids, and everything in between. I had the luck of having 2 girls with my same name which made me think...they were meant to be with me (or maybe it could be that my name is coming into fashion again but I like the first thought better). I had one kid who couldn't hold his hand over his eye to save his life, so another parent had to assist. I also had a gung ho guy who told me he had already memorized the chart and so he knew he'd pass (a little "rain man" in our midst).One other thing that is rewarding for me, is to notice that I actually like interacting with kids on a personal level. I like to talk with them in mature and respectful ways. To make them feel special but not patronized. I liked to witness my belief that children are human beings and they deserve the same amount of respect and attention as an adult. That felt good...but then...after it was all said and done...I wanted to bathe in hand sanitizer.
I'm on a mission to stay healthy...respecting kids and respecting my body....all is good in the world!
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