Musical Chairs

It's interesting what you can learn about a person by watching them play musical chairs. Do they hover over each chair they pass, making sure they are never more than 1 inch away from a potential seat at any given time? Do they skip around enjoying the music as they go? Do they mozy along, not really caring if they end up with a seat when the music stops? Do they care so much that they would be willing to push a younger child out of the way in order to stay in the game?

We had a school-wide SA-sponsored event this afternoon called Winter Extravaganza - a "celebration to chase the winter blues away." All of the students, k-12, were divided into 8 equally distributed groups. I was in charge of group #8. The little ones were paired up with the bigger ones and it was easy to see the value of "family" shine through as they hung out together and took care of each other.

I sat in mild amusement as I watched my group of kids play musical chairs; it was our last station of the day. Everyone started off playing. The older kids could have easily beaten the tiny little kindergarteners, but being nice, they would pretend to be slow and let the little ones get to the seat first. But really, that's expected from the bigger kids, right? After a while most of the older kids were out, and I was curious to see who would push to the end for the win. In the next round, a sweet little 1st grade girl (one of the cutest you've ever seen!) wasn't quick enough to find a chair, but there were no big kids left to kindly give up their chair. I was sad that she was finally out. But then unexpectedly, a little kindergarten boy got up and gave her his chair! It's a pretty amazing thing for a kindergarten kid to do, since most of them haven't even learned how to share yet!! That's a real gentleman - one who just seems to intuitively know that he should give up his seat for a girl!! (There's hope for the future generation!!)

After that round, without fail, there was at least one kid who would give up his or her seat for whoever had not found a seat. I realize that it totally defeated the purpose of the game, but it was such a beautiful thing to watch! Each time, I could see mixed emotions on their faces - sad that they were out, but happy that they had allowed someone else to keep playing. They were cheered on and high-fived by all the others who had already gotten out, affirming their self-sacrificing choice. At that moment, I once again felt SO blessed to be a part of a school that has made it our mission to teach our students lifelong principles such as generosity, sacrifice, kindness, and selflessness!