Sometimes we just need moments that remind us of our humanity.
This afternoon I took the time to stay with my kids after school. We normally leave but I chose to stay so my kids could play with a group of about fourteen kids and play soccer. At first I didn’t want to get sweaty so I sat on the sidelines observing them playing. No one really followed the rules. The game alternated between soccer, football and rugby, with a dash of wrestling in between. There were no observable boundaries to human contact to a large extent. Even the few girls were getting in on the tackling and fun. It was chaos, but fun chaos.
At first I wanted to tell the kids to stop and just play the game they had said they were playing. I wanted to set the rules so things would be orderly. I was the adult and I knew they would listen to what I was saying. But then I stopped myself and began to observe the difference between the kids and myself. I was not immediately comfortable with chaos. I was not comfortable with getting sweaty. I wanted order. The kids were the exact opposite. They wanted and even fed on the chaos, as long as they were having fun.
I sometimes wonder at what point we stop engaging chaos for the sake of fun. As adults we become afraid of it. But it was in the kids chaos that I was reminded of my own humanity. There was a tremendous freedom to explore, play, enjoy, and even fail. It seems like adulthood is largely about exporting those things from our life for the sake of ease and comfort. And then one day we find ourselves on the sidelines wondering why all the kids are having fun.
