Knights of the Future
Posted July 31st, 2014 at 01:05 PM by Sylvano the Wasabus
The pages - young knights in training- were out in full force for the recent summer medieval camp. But something has changed somehow- they all seem to be younger and smaller than ever before. I guess mostly they are seven to ten years old and they always were. It’s just that now my own children are older and I guessed I judged using them as a yardstick. When they were small, it seemed normal, now that they’re bigger, little kids seem especially tiny.
Perhaps I have run this program too many times now. The thrills and terrors are no longer exciting, just another activity. I try hard to remember that the pages are experiencing things for the first time. They still get frightened and scared, I just don’t notice as much.
We had a large group of squirters (little boys) this time. The best of them was called Demon blade. They get to pick new names when they come in and for a week they live the fantasy of being someone else. It’s always very freeing and I am constantly astounded when some kid is confident and strong and called something like Horse Puncher and then suddenly a parent appears and calls “George it’s time to go now.” Horse Puncher disappears and George is suddenly there, shuffling his feet and looking for his lost lunch bag.
There are always adventures and quests in the old vacant building where the program takes place. Masked swordsmen prowl the halls looking for unsuspecting pages, or even well armed pages in groups. The pages always die and come back to the keep, our safe room, to wait for the start of the next game.
Every day we stress the same things- working together and being quiet. I noticed this year that they think being quiet is only about their mouth. They keep it shut and then trudge noisily up and down stairs, banging doors and bumping into chairs. Why would they think it was only about their mouths?
At lunch time sometimes we see a little bit of their other life, as they whip out their cell phone and munch on snack food that I’ve never heard of. But they soon abandon those things and become children of the ages- running around chasing each other, playing with sticks (until I stop them) laughing and being alive- just like kids everywhere in all times.
My favourite pages were a girl named archer, and two squirters: Demon blade and a little squirter called Ekelb.
Archer is a name always picked by girls from some reason, even before the latest fad of girls with bows. She was used to being pigeonholed as a girl though and it took her a bit to come out of her shell and just be herself. Watching kids expand and explore is one of the delights – Archer slowly changed from a quiet girl to the leader of her squad, simply because she had never been in that situation before.
The other knights and squires (there are a bunch of us now) didn’t like Demon blade at first. In private they made fun of his haircut and he broke a few rules in the beginning. I saw a kid with a lot of energy- like me- who just didn’t know how or where to apply it. He started out amongst the squirters but by the end of the week he had risen above. He was still their friend- but he was capable and doing much more.
Ekelb was a seven year old with giant eyes. He always looked like he was on the verge of crying. He was terrified in the quests and wouldn’t leave the safe room. That’s okay; no one has to do anything they don’t want to do. On the final day he ventured out just to watch. He didn’t bring a sword so he would be recognized as an observer and therefore immune to attack. But Ekelb had bad luck. A door burst open and a rather terrifying masked entity with a sword in each hand ran in. Ekelb ran down a huge stair case, which the entity chose to descend as well- in effect Ekelb felt he was being chased. I was downstairs, refereeing and this is what I saw: Little Ekelb, his huge eyes even bigger, panicked and terrified, running for his life. It sounds cruel to laugh but at the time it was terrifically hilarious. And it has a good ending- Ekelb survived. Even at capture the flag later that day I noticed a new gusto in him, as he went after another squirter with his sword.
Probably the funniest moment was when we were beginning meditation study. We had all calmed ourselves, were paying attention to our breathing. The room was silent which I thought was pretty good for a bunch of squirters.
“Now send your hearing out into the room.” I urged. “Can you hear the sound of the air conditioning?”
And someone farted. Well that was the end of that meditation!
I have led the program so many times I can no longer remember individual times. They all blur together in my memory. I remember some of the pages, but lots of others I have forgotten. I’m not sure how much longer I will continue to run the program. I’m not as young as I once was. For now, it restores my faith in the future, which is difficult if you watch any news at all. Ebola and the latest wars hang like a black cloud over us all. Getting to see the emerging quiet leaders of tomorrow is a small comfort for this old man.
Perhaps I have run this program too many times now. The thrills and terrors are no longer exciting, just another activity. I try hard to remember that the pages are experiencing things for the first time. They still get frightened and scared, I just don’t notice as much.
We had a large group of squirters (little boys) this time. The best of them was called Demon blade. They get to pick new names when they come in and for a week they live the fantasy of being someone else. It’s always very freeing and I am constantly astounded when some kid is confident and strong and called something like Horse Puncher and then suddenly a parent appears and calls “George it’s time to go now.” Horse Puncher disappears and George is suddenly there, shuffling his feet and looking for his lost lunch bag.
There are always adventures and quests in the old vacant building where the program takes place. Masked swordsmen prowl the halls looking for unsuspecting pages, or even well armed pages in groups. The pages always die and come back to the keep, our safe room, to wait for the start of the next game.
Every day we stress the same things- working together and being quiet. I noticed this year that they think being quiet is only about their mouth. They keep it shut and then trudge noisily up and down stairs, banging doors and bumping into chairs. Why would they think it was only about their mouths?
At lunch time sometimes we see a little bit of their other life, as they whip out their cell phone and munch on snack food that I’ve never heard of. But they soon abandon those things and become children of the ages- running around chasing each other, playing with sticks (until I stop them) laughing and being alive- just like kids everywhere in all times.
My favourite pages were a girl named archer, and two squirters: Demon blade and a little squirter called Ekelb.
Archer is a name always picked by girls from some reason, even before the latest fad of girls with bows. She was used to being pigeonholed as a girl though and it took her a bit to come out of her shell and just be herself. Watching kids expand and explore is one of the delights – Archer slowly changed from a quiet girl to the leader of her squad, simply because she had never been in that situation before.
The other knights and squires (there are a bunch of us now) didn’t like Demon blade at first. In private they made fun of his haircut and he broke a few rules in the beginning. I saw a kid with a lot of energy- like me- who just didn’t know how or where to apply it. He started out amongst the squirters but by the end of the week he had risen above. He was still their friend- but he was capable and doing much more.
Ekelb was a seven year old with giant eyes. He always looked like he was on the verge of crying. He was terrified in the quests and wouldn’t leave the safe room. That’s okay; no one has to do anything they don’t want to do. On the final day he ventured out just to watch. He didn’t bring a sword so he would be recognized as an observer and therefore immune to attack. But Ekelb had bad luck. A door burst open and a rather terrifying masked entity with a sword in each hand ran in. Ekelb ran down a huge stair case, which the entity chose to descend as well- in effect Ekelb felt he was being chased. I was downstairs, refereeing and this is what I saw: Little Ekelb, his huge eyes even bigger, panicked and terrified, running for his life. It sounds cruel to laugh but at the time it was terrifically hilarious. And it has a good ending- Ekelb survived. Even at capture the flag later that day I noticed a new gusto in him, as he went after another squirter with his sword.
Probably the funniest moment was when we were beginning meditation study. We had all calmed ourselves, were paying attention to our breathing. The room was silent which I thought was pretty good for a bunch of squirters.
“Now send your hearing out into the room.” I urged. “Can you hear the sound of the air conditioning?”
And someone farted. Well that was the end of that meditation!
I have led the program so many times I can no longer remember individual times. They all blur together in my memory. I remember some of the pages, but lots of others I have forgotten. I’m not sure how much longer I will continue to run the program. I’m not as young as I once was. For now, it restores my faith in the future, which is difficult if you watch any news at all. Ebola and the latest wars hang like a black cloud over us all. Getting to see the emerging quiet leaders of tomorrow is a small comfort for this old man.
Comments 2
Total Comments 2
Comments
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Glad to see you're back again StW - seems like a while since your last blog. Or maybe it's just me. Eh, same.
I've always been fascinated by this and did a similar "Vikings" thing with my Boy Scout troop for a day. Foam swords and battle axes and spears and real wooden shields... Wow. |
Posted July 31st, 2014 at 09:54 PM by elvenwizard9
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Another great read. I see a lot of positivity and love in this blog about an event that may have lost some shine for you. I would reconsider hanging up your swords. I think you will miss it, when you do.
Thanks for sharing. |
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Posted August 1st, 2014 at 12:04 PM by Tornado
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