It’s currently believed that as human beings developed weapons – spears – they changed from being scavengers to being hunters. Humans, after all, aren’t endowed with fangs or claws, and before the invention of the stone spearhead, our ancestors had to rely on lions and leopards to do their killing for them. Once the animal who made the kill had eaten its fill, humans could fight off hyenas and vultures for whatever was left. But once the spear was invented, everything changed. Humans became predators.
Still, it wasn’t easy to make a kill. Spears have limited range so a hunter had to get close to an animal to have any hope of killing it. And animals aren’t easy to sneak up on. So while ambushes along game trails probably worked some of the time, humans often had no choice but to chase after the animal they wanted to eat.
Which raised another problem: prey animals can run a lot faster than people. Predators, like lions and especially cheetahs, can run very fast, but only for short distances. This enables them to kill the slower members of a herd while the other members sprint to safety. But though prey animals have to run fast, they don’t have to run very far. And this presented an opportunity for humans – instead of outrunning an ibex like a lion would, humans could simply keep chasing it.
Since prey animals had evolved to be sprinters, they would outrun humans and then slow down. But unlike lions or cheetahs, the humans would keep coming, forcing these animals to run away again and again. In time, the animals being so relentlessly pursued would tire and stop, and the humans could make their kill.
And so it is that while we can’t run as fast as most other creatures, we can run farther. And though evidence suggests that we, too, need to rest periodically, our ability to run and run and run sets us apart in the animal kingdom.
Well, some of us anyway. I could run fast as a kid but not very far. And I know a lot of people who don’t seem to have the distance runner gene. But there are some who do, and one of the best places to find them is on a cross country team.
Our local girls Cross Country team just accomplished an incredible feat by winning the State Class C Cross Country meet in Kearney last Friday – the first state cross country championship for either boys or girls in Boone Central history. Since our son, Thomas, is a member of the boys team (and though our boys team didn’t make it to state this year, two of its members did qualify individually), Lori and I have watched a lot of cross country meets over the past few years.
It never ceases to amaze us how hard these young runners work. To hear Thomas tell it, long distance running is as much a mental battle as it is physical. It requires enormous discipline to keep going and going and going. And while our long-ago ancestors were motivated by the need to eat what they were chasing, instead of freshly-killed gazelle all we offer our runners today are bananas and Gatorade.
So kudos to everyone who runs cross country – whether you run at the front of the pack, somewhere in the middle, or at the end — for your strength, stamina and dogged determination to do what humans do so well and yet what comes so hard – running and running and then running some more.
Every parent knows that having a child in school means you’re in school too, and your schedule needs to adjust. And while the events you attend and goodies you supply change somewhat as your kids get older, your weekly planner has to accommodate a range of school activities.
This is how it should be; parents and schools partner on one of the most important tasks in life – rearing the next generation. Parents need to work with their school system to make sure their children get the best education they can. This partnering can range from making sure homework gets done and attending parent/teacher conferences to supporting extra-curricular activities like sports, music and speech.
Helping children learn extends beyond helping with school events. Many families travel during the summer and expose their kids to a lot of new places. Some take their kids to events and museums in places like Omaha and Lincoln, and this can awaken young people to new and wonderful things.
Lori and I recently took our son, Thomas, a freshman at Boone Central, on a rather unusual educational excursion. I’m currently chairman of the state governmental ethics commission and we’ve been involved with an important campaign issue that ended up before the Nebraska Supreme Court in early January. Knowing Thomas is considering going to law school, and knowing that this issue could have a major impact on how campaigns are financed, we all three attended the hearing.
And we were glad we did. The questioning from the judges was challenging and insightful. The attorneys had prepared statements and were given only a limited amount of time in which to present them. Yet most of this time was spent answering questions rather than reading their prepared remarks, and it was a good example to how our legal system examines both sides of an issue.
Supporting education isn’t limited to just helping one’s own children. Many businesses “adopt” an elementary class each year and some are now providing internships for students participating in Boone Central’s Career Academies. These are great examples of how the wider community and the school can partner to help our young people grow.
As members of the Boone County Historical Society Lori and I are pleased to partner with various school and scout groups to not only expose students to this area’s past but to engage their help with museum projects. This gives our young people a stronger sense of place as well as a sense of ownership through helping preserve our community’s historical resources.
As co-directors of the Albion Area Arts Council Lori and I work hard to bring a variety of musicians and speakers into the local school systems. So far this season our artists have done residencies at both Boone Central and St. Michael’s schools; just last week an exceptional young mallet artist, Matthew Coley, worked with all the Boone Central band students in both Albion and Petersburg.
After we finished with Matthew’s residency, we hauled most of my musical instruments to St. Edward where I demonstrated them to students there. After that I helped their third grade write a song about St. Ed. It was a busy week and it tired us out, but it was worth it to be able to touch so many young people’s lives. Though it may not require a village to raise a child, an education-friendly community can do much to help its young people get a solid start on life. So even though it can mess up my schedule, I’m always glad for the chance to go back to school.