It is a full moon at my house. I’m not sure if it reaches the edge of the city, but I know it reaches my school. The kids were crazy wild yesterday! There have always been stories about weird things happening during a full moon. Werewolves and other undesirables come out the wood work, crime rate increases, and lots of babies are born during full moons. I have my own theory as to why weird things happen. It has nothing to do with anything supernatural or out of this world. My theory is simply this: when the moon is full, it is actually closer and therefore has a bigger affect on our gravity here on earth. We all feel this as an added ‘stress’ and we simply freak out.
Don’t worry, I’m not planning to be a science teacher…..

Science may seem like a comforting, safe, sure way to explain things to some people. I don’t know about all that….I think science is a very personal thing. Everyone interprets things their own way, using their own knowledge and experiences to do so. Some people/scientists, may take years or even decades to explain certain phenomenon or mysterious happenings in our world. We all have that desire to explain things and to understand the world around us.

I think we just try too hard some times. We read, we study, we research, and we work work work until we think we have finally figured something out.  I once again turn to the newest people on the planet, our youth. I was at a board breaking seminar with my son tonight. After the students in the class all broke wooden boards with their feet or hands, they went outside the studio and a select few were allowed a chance to break a cinder block with their hand.

I admit it was a bit painful to watch. Every time a person would slam their hand into the block, I could just image the discomfort they were feeling from hitting something so hard, and rough.  I watched as each person practiced their form by lining up their body and arm, moving slowly through the motions, and analyzing the angle, width, position, etc. of the block. It seemed to me to be a very intense activity.

Several of the moms were inside watching the happenings out front through the front window. One mom commented on how hard it looked to break a brick. Her five year old son summed it all up very quickly for us. “You have to be stronger than the brick.” Well, there it is. Such simple logic from such a young boy.

He is so true in many ways. Not only do we have to be stronger than the brick, we have to be stronger than all the problems that come our way. We have to be stronger than the temptations we face, we have to be stronger than gossip, we have to be stronger than the media and books and video games and that desire to play hooky from life and stay in bed all day.

I think we are stronger. The problem is that sometimes, when we are standing there…looking at that brick, feeling how hard and rough it is, our mind tells us we can’t break it. We aren’t strong enough. Sometimes, the best thing we can do is to just close our eyes and smack that brick with all our might. Place our aim beyond the brick to the place we want to end up. It may leave us with a bruised hand, but it’s always worth it…cause I said so.

Photo credit: http://www.digdang.com/image/supermans_karate_chop/10195/