This swing dance idea seems to be working. At first, many of the kids were reluctant because they had to dance with the opposite gender (most are in seventh grade, a time when kids are still awkward about the opposite sex). There are still those who feel that way, but they're getting used to it. Just as important, they're actually learning to dance. For the first time today, they were able to put moves together, with some even using combinations. Tomorrow will be a little more tricky, because the move I'm teaching will require them to be closer than previously. Even its name expresses this closeness: it's called the "sweetheart."
I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...
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