Watchful mothers give their children hope. My friend related to me how as a teenager she always felt "out of it" in her small town. Her mother would always say, just you wait, when you get to college there will be those who appreciate you. She was so wise. The day did come and her daughter found her place and continued to find those who appreciated her and supported her in who she was.
In the movie "Hoosiers" a coach comes to a small town in Indiana to coach the high school basketball team. There is a young man who has a gift for the game, but because of past difficulites he no longer wants to play. The rest of the people in town, who don't have lives, are constantly bugging the boy to play. The coach goes to him and tells him that he knows he has a gift but that it is his to use or ignore and that he (the coach) doesn't care if he plays. Then the coach continues to prepare the young men who have chosen to play. When the day comes that the whole town assembles in the high school gym to greet the basketball team for that year they begin to chant and call for the boy who won't play. The coach steps to the mike and says, "This is your team. I would hope that you would cheer for who we are and not for who we aren't."
Sometimes I think I cheer for kids who aren't really on my team. In fact I think they don't even really exist. They only exist in my mind. I need to cheer for My Kids. I need to know who they are and support them and give them hope for their future, not some imaginary future that I keep dreaming up for them.
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