Before This Season Passes

This year, November is not just a time of quiet reflection, days of acceptance and gratitude, and moments with loved ones and friends. The last month of fall, November reminds us some things must end to begin anew soon. This season many students finalize Common App essays, explore career and college options, stress over scholarship applications, standardized test scores, early decision and early action deadlines. Families await cooler weather, holiday festivities, and gifts to be given and received. Winter break is coming but fall is here now!

Colors burst forth in falling leaves, folks are gathering warm clothes, planning reunions, eager to cozy up to conversation and cinnamon and pumpkin spices in cakes, rolls, coffee, and aromas that tempt the appetite and the memories of bygone days.

Whether you enjoy turkey, Tofurky, ham, zesty favorites like butternut squash, dressing and gravy, mac and cheese, cinnamon apples, pumpkin and sweet potato pie, or grab a quick bite because you are earning money or helping at a shelter, cheerful or contemplative, the holidays are upon us.

It may be time to reach out to loved ones, to clean and decorate the home, to begin or wrap up gift giving preparations. Yet many are mindful that some are not so jovial; many are suffering, sad, even separated from loved ones due to financial circumstances, misunderstandings, unforeseen obstacles. This year my friend Aleks in war-torn Ukraine tells me he fears he may never hug his teenage son, sent to Germany two years ago for his own safety. Aleks lives in Zaporisha where bombs and drones keep his wife awake and frightened in what used to be peaceful nights. Major bridges were recently bombed; he’s lost communication and access to his elderly father, yet Aleks often reminds me light shines brightest in the dark.

As American author Thornton Wilder wrote, we “cannot be truly alive until our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” This season, above all, calls us to be grateful for what we have, and thus make use of our blessings.

Students, I urge you to explore and plan your life with hope and consistency. We have so many scholarship opportunities, career choices, and multiple chances to learn and grow. Parents, support and encourage youths to go for what will bring fulfillment, meaning and joy, for what lies ahead can only be bright if we are confident and willing to strive to find our purpose here. Not in five or ten years, but from now on. And that requires listening to each other, taking time to care, going through smiles and tears to realize our visions and dreams. But we cannot “doze” too frequently because winter is next, and all things remarkable require planning, acting, seizing the moment, before this season’s opportunities pass.

See you next read! 📖

 ~Dr. Lesley Scharf

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