Rituals and Youth

I attended a ceremony for the stations of the cross today held in a quaint little church in Groveland, MA.

A number of teens around 13 or 14 years old presented the story of each station while some of their peers held up their own renderings of each station of the cross on posters.

While some stood there waiting out the couple of minutes it took to read what each station was about, I was struck by how pained some of them were at the idea of being up in front of a bunch of parents staring at them.

There were the typical jokesters in the crowd of kids swaying to music played as though they were at a rock concert but the ones that struck me more were the ones who hid behind their posters or a long head of hair dying until they could go sit down again.

I wondered if these rituals were lost on them or if the ones who really needed to grasp onto something would actually get it.

All I came away with was that never ever would I ask to be sent back in a time machine to live my early teenage years over again.

Thanks for stopping by.

Take care... Dianne