I Feel Good

A Catholic day.

First, I got back from the hospital, where I held my second grandchild, born about 6am. If you aren't a grandparent yet, lemme tell ya, you want to be one.

(In profile he looks just like George de la Tour's baby on the right)

We ran into the other grandparents there. They are taking care of the first grandchild today; we had him yesterday. Since they are both in RCIA this year (following their daughter into the Church), we suggested they come along to the Knights of Columbus St. Patrick's Fish Fry, which they did, bringing along grandson #1. In addition to the food, there was a group of Celtic dancer girls who put on a great show. One piece of music wouldn't cue properly so they danced one number to the clapping of the crowd, which was terrific. The grandson, who is a 2 1/2 year-old dancing fiend, went nuts, dancing like a leprechaun, much to everyone's delight. My wife & I spent the next hour visiting with friends who have kids in college, etc., as we do. My three youngest kids (18, 18 & 20) came too, and having been away at school, were warmly received by those who hadn't seen them in a year or so. All in all, a fine day.

And to top it off, I got this little plug:
Amazing Minute podcast, March 12, 2010

¿Quién aquí habla Español?

We have a sizeable Hispanic membership in our parish: one of our five weekend Masses is in Spanish. So in most years my 6th-grade class has at least one child who speaks some Spanish. Having a Spanish-speaker is an asset, because Spanish words often express concepts in a different way than the equivalent English word. Here are a few examples.


"Honorary sons & daughters, what's the business with St. Peter and the keys? Well, Jesus gave him the keys. Yes, to his car? Jesus didn't have a car! Peter got the keys to heaven. Oh yeah, heaven. I bet they were huge keys, heaven being so big and all. They weren't real keys. Well, put it this way, heaven is a spiritual place, so the keys would need to be spiritual not physical, but they might still be real. Anyway, before the key business, Jesus changed the name of the guy he gave the keys to. What was his name before Jesus called him Peter...y'all have heard this before....(on the board I spell in slow motion: 'S'...'I')... Simon? Yeah, Simon. What did Jesus say to Simon when he changed his name? Do come along, y'all know this: Thou art Banana and...ThouartPeteranduponthisRockIbuildmyChurch! Yes! What language is that? What language? Is it Chinese? Chinese? No, it's English! Yes. Sometimes English doesn't make things in the Bible as clear as other languages do. Like Simon's new name...Peter! Yes...what's Peter mean? Rock. Right. Do we ever say, "Peter broke the window with a peter?" What? Do we say, "I stubbed my toe on a peter"? Ha! We say rock. Right. We might also say stone. 'Peter' is just a name to us in English. But let's see... ¿Quién aquí habla Español? Who speaks Spanish? Me! OK m'ija, digame, cómo se llama Peter en Español? How do we say Peter in Spanish (always repeat in English)? Pedro. Yes...who already knew Pedro is Spanish for Peter? Almost everybody, good. [I write Peter and Pedro on the board] Hija, when Jesus changes Simon's name to Pedro, how does he say 'rock'? Roca. Oops, sorry, how does he say 'stone'? Oh...piedra! He says "piedra". Yes, 'piedra' [piedra goes on the board beside Pedro]. Y'all see, it's more clear in Spanish that Peter is the Rock, the Stone, the words are almost the same. And by the way, how do the French say Peter? Pierre? Yes, Pierre, which is also exactly how they say stone [Pierre goes on the board under Peter, Pedro, and piedra]. It's perfectly clear to the French that Peter is the Stone. In French you can say, "Pierre broke the window with a pierre."

For all you catechists, here are the translations:

In Spanish: "tú eres Pedro, y sobre esta piedra edificaré mi iglesia"

In French: "tu es Pierre, et que sur cette pierre je bâtirai mon Église"

Here are some more (not all) occasions that I seek assistance from my Spanish-speakers. Languages are never a separate issue, but part of the fabric of the lesson plan, so these bits don't reflect their wider context:

Class, what's 'Christmas' mean? It's when Jesus was born. Yes, good, that's what Christmas is...but what does Christmas literally mean? Oh, Christ's Mass. Yes again. And you're right, it celebrates Jesus' birth. ¿Quién aquí habla Español? Who speaks Spanish? Me! ¿Cómo se llama Christmas en Español? Navidad. Yes [Navidad goes up on the board]. Does it mean 'Christ's Mass'?  No, it just means the baby is born. Right. In English we say Nativity [on the board]. Somebody tell me, what's a Nativity scene? It's the little statues of baby Jesus and the 3 Kings and all. Yes...one reason I like the word Navidad is that it reminds me of Jesus being born in that little humble stable.

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Who remembers the Hebrew word for Passover? It starts with a "P"! Yeah, that's good enough, here we go: P-e-s-a-c-h [on the board], Pesach. And the Last Supper was a Pesach meal, but for the New Covenant...and who is the New Passover Lamb? Jesus. Yes. We call Jesus the Paschal Lamb: Pascha [on the board] is our word for Pesach. Was the lamb sacrificed at that dinner? No, on the cross the next day! Yes. We observe the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. The next day is....Good Friday, yes, then Holy Saturday, and then....Easter Sunday! Yes. What word does Easter have in it? Umm....east? Yes, and where does the sun rise? In the East. Yes. The word Easter refers to Springtime, it's an old pagan word, but now we use it for a Christian holyday...we baptized it so it's a Christian word now. You can't baptize a word! You're right, I don't mean it literally. Hey, cómo se llama Easter en Español? What's Spanish for Easter? Pascua! Yes, P-a-s-c-u-a [on the board under Pesach]. That's how the Spanish say Pesach. Most countries say "Passover/ Pesach" when we say "Easter" because the whole 4 days from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday make the Passover, the Pesach, of the New Covenant.

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So, it's Lent. I notice there's more daylight now when y'all get dropped off, why is that? The days are getting longer. Yes, it's almost Spring, and the days get longer...they lengthen [on the board]. Sometimes we say Lent, sometimes we say Lenten season. Look now (I use my finger to erase letters in lengthen so it says len-t-en), why do we call it the Lenten season? Because the days lengthen! Yes, and Lent is short for Lenten. ¿Quién aquí habla Español? Me! Honorary son, what's Spanish for Lent? Cuaresma [on the board]. How many days is Lent, Cuaresma? Forty. How do you know? Because cuaresma is like the word for forty. Which is? Cuarenta [on the board]. Class, what's up with forty, why not 38 days? Because Jesus was in the desert for 40 days, yes, and the Israelites were in the desert for...forty years! Yes, good. Forty is an important number in the Bible. In these cases it signifies a time of preparation.

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From the class on "keep holy the LORD's day":

We know from our Genesis reading that God created for 12 days, and... no six! yes six, and rested for three... no, one day! yes, right. Six and one. And Shabbat is how to say rest in Hebrew, so the day of rest is called...Sabbath [on the board]! Yes...what day of the week is that? Saturday. Yes. Who is Saturday named after? Oh, Saturn. Yes, a Roman make-believe God. Now I need a Spanish-speaker to tell me how to say Saturday in Spanish. It's Sabado [on the board]. Yes, does it mean Saturn? No, it just means Sabbath. So is Saturday our Sabbath, our day of rest? No it's on Sunday now. Yes, the Christian Sabbath is on Sunday. Jews have always kept Sabbath on Sabado, Saturday. And in Spanish, Italian and Greek,  Christians still call the sixth day 'Sabbath,' even though Sunday is the Christian Sabbath day.

And from there we discuss why the New Covenant Sabbath is on Sunday.



There are other occasions that Spanish contributes to our class, but these vignettes should be enough to show how it can be done.

This post is also available at the Amazing Catechists website.

Samson and Eucharistic Prayer #1

This post is also available at the Amazing Catechists website.

We're in the middle of a month of learning about the Mass. We just finished this part of the Eucharistic Prayer:

"Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedek." We review the offerings of these three (a lamb, a ram substituting for Isaac, bread & wine); the kids have seen all of them before. Now I pull out this bit from the Greenville, SC newspaper:

"Hey, y'all look at this, Bob Jones University (the local Fundamentalist college) is staging an opera called Delilah. I mention it because I know y'all love opera as much as I do. We don't like opera! Well, you should like opera. Anyway, somebody tell me who Delilah was. She cut off Samson's hair. Yes, genius; now somebody else tell me about Samson. He was strong as long as his hair didn't get cut. That's right. Look at that long hair, must be a wig.

"Hey, who were Isaac's parents? Abraham & Sarah! Right, why were they sad for so long? 'Cause they couldn't have any children. Yes, and then? God gave them Isaac. Right. Well, Samson's father Manoah, and his wife had the same problem- no chirrens. But then one day an angel, which in Greek means....? messenger! yes, a messenger appeared to Manoah's wife and told her she would soon conceive a son. Later on, the same messenger (they couldn't tell he was an angel) also spoke to Manoah, and suggested Manoah should make an offering of Thanksgiving."

 "So Manoah took a young goat with the cereal offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD, to him who works wonders. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground." (Judges 13) Wow, they didn't know he was an angel 'til he took off!

"Tell me, what's the deal with the flame going up to heaven? Huh? Why does it matter which way the fire goes? Well, it's going to heaven. Yes...what's going to heaven, exactly...not the flame...oh the offering is going up! Yes...all by itself I suppose, a burned up goat....why is the messenger going up? He's going back to heaven, too. Yes, so the angel and the offering are just going up separately, but at the same time to heaven, right? It's just a coincidence? Well...maybe the angel is taking the offering up.  Yes, I think so. The messenger takes the offering up. The angel connects earth and heaven. And where's the offering starting from? Earth. Yes, be more specific please, listen: "when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar." Oh, from the altar. Yes. So the angel carries the offering from the altar up to heaven.

"Now, let's look at the picture on this handout (it has this pic, and the relevant bits from Judges and the Eucharistic Prayer)...

...and read this next part of the Eucharistic Prayer:

"Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven."

"What does that sound like? It's like what Samson's father did! Yes, it's like the angel taking Manoah's offering  from the altar on Earth up to heaven. But the picture and the prayer are both from....Mass! Yes! We don't see the angel who does this, but it's part of our prayer, we believe it happens. Why can't we see this? C'mon, we're blinded by something....oh, sin! Yes, and to believe in something we can't see we need....faith. Yes. Saints might see something like this, though. And what is the angel taking up? Well, the offering. Yes, but what's being offered at this point? Umm, bread and wine? No, there's no more bread and wine. Oh, Jesus is the offering! Yes. That's Jesus being carried up; not some goat like Manoah offered but a perfect Lamb. And we are offering Jesus to whom? God. More specifically, please...God the Father. That's it.

"What's everybody doing in the picture? Huh, they're at Mass. No, I mean their posture, they're all bowing (at least their heads) at this moment, why is that? No takers...let's read the last bit about Manoah again:  "...the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground." Why'd they fall on the ground? They were scared when the angel took off. Yes, a bit scared I'm sure, but they were in the presence of a miracle, and it made them feel very humble. If I had seen that, I'd have fallen on the ground because I had passed out. People long ago would lie down on the ground in the presence of God, or even a king. Nowadays we bow, lying on the ground is messy. But do you ever notice at Mass, the altar boys bow way down, their heads almost touch the ground when they bow. They bow like Manoah in the presence of God's miracle.

"Daughter, read the second line, please: "Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing." Yes, let's review for a second. At the offertory, what do the people bring up to the priest? Bread and wine. Yes, then does the priest offer the bread and wine to God the Father: here's ten bucks' worth of bread and wine, Father, please forgive our sins? Ha, that's silly! Yes, so the priest offers what? Jesus. That's right...and who turns the bread & wine into Jesus' body & blood? The priest. Wow, he must have super powers. Let's remember, Mass isn't mostly about what people do, it's about.....what Jesus does, yes, so who made it happen? Jesus. Yes. But Jesus works through the priest, so that was a good guess. Then we see in the picture the angel carries our offering from the altar on Earth up to the altar in Heaven...bye! So how do we "receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son" if it all went to heaven? Well, some got left behind. Yeah...think about it this way:

"When my wife puts on Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, she does a ton of cooking and preparation, and the guests know she worked hard for days. When the guests arrive they usually have something with them, what would that be? A present? What kind of present do you bring to a dinner, a power tool? Ha, no, food! Good guess, and maybe for the adults something...wet? Umm,...wine? Yes indeed. Why do guests bring presents? 'cause they are glad you invited them! You got that right! They are not just saying 'thank you' but showing it by bring a thanksgiving offering. How do the Greeks say 'thank you' at their festival? Efharisto! That's right...Eucharist. Now if someone brings my wife a nice bottle of wine, does she say thanks, and put it away for another occasion? No, I bet you drink it right then! Right! She says thank you so much, let's open it now....here's a glass for you, let's all have some. It's like Mass: she does most of the work; the guests show their thanks by offering a small gift; she is gracious and offers them back some of their offering. God does the same thing: we offer Jesus; God says thank you; y'all have some too. And when we "receive from this altar the sacred body and blood" do we put it in our pocket for later? No, we eat it right then! That's right! That's how we show thanks at a feast: we eat it all right then!"



That finishes our coverage of this part of the Eucharistic Prayer. By the way, this does not exhaust the teachable content of that picture; for example, I did not mention the crucified Christ...that's not a mere crucifix.

Textbook Fatigue

This post is also available at the Amazing Catechists website.

 

Kids get textbook fatigue...I get textbook fatigue, too. Information presented in a textbook lacks the authenticity of the same information found elsewhere. If something is in a textbook it's because the people who write textbooks think it matters, which is fine with me, but it's not an especially compelling endorsement for 6th-graders. Even something as simple as a map of France has more credibility and impact when it's in a travel magazine or a book about wine & cheese instead of a geography textbook. It's why German in Der Spiegel has more vitality than German in the speech lab. In school, knowledge is managed & packaged for the kiddies- they're aware of that by 6th grade; but out in the world- it's raw and real!

That's one reason I prefer for the kids to read the textbook at home, and then in class learn the material from other sources, usually the Bible or the Catechism. They are good sources, but they're both On the Reservation, so to speak. For kids they're just one step removed from the textbook.

So it's always a pleasure to find a secular discussion of a moral/ religious/ Catholic topic that not only shows the relevance of what we do in class, but can be a source for actually learning the material. I prefer newspapers or serious periodicals, because the children know that unlike their textbooks, newspapers aren't kidstuff. Newspapers, those symbols of maturity, set the standard for grownup, adult reading. I can't say for younger kids, but 6th graders are definitely interested in the maturing process, and in being treated as more than mere "children." So they know that when I use the paper in class I have respect for them.

Recently we covered the 8th Commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, which in 6th grade means don't lie. But the textbook wisely expands the commandment beyond mere lying into sins such as slander, detraction, and gossip. By coincidence, this article about gossip appeared in the Wall Street Journal on the same day as our class.

Killing Gossip With Kindness - WSJ.com

That evening, when we got to the topic of gossip, I displayed the paper and said we'd learn about gossip from today's news.  The article's opening sentence was a perfect attention-getter: "Wendy Fandl sees a lot of children growing up without a lot of guidance. They say harsh and hurtful things about each other, and the words come too easily. Encouraged by the snarkiness in pop culture today, they seem more sarcastic than past generations."

From there we went on to discuss gossip. I'd read/ paraphrase the following excerpts, and the kids would make comments and observations.

 "...before they say something to or about someone else, they should ask themselves: "Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary?"

"It's emotionally lethal. It's leading to suicides......If you stop gossip in your own life and bring it to the attention of your community, then people will follow your leadership."

"It's always around fifth grade when students start calling each other names...."
Young people especially are at greater risk today of being damaged by gossip, given the growth of Web sites where students leave cruel, anonymous postings about their peers.
 
Years ago, people who were picked on or gossiped about in high school could graduate, move away and start fresh. "These days, the gossip follows them. It's online forever...."
 
The article closed with a great little story, which ends: 
 
"Treat everyone the way your mother would want everyone to treat you."
 
And after we were done with the article, I closed our discussion of gossip by telling this ancient fable (from this scene in the movie "Doubt' ):
 
"A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this - that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing.

‘Is gossiping a sin?’ she asked the old man. ‘Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?’

‘Yes!’ Father O’Rourke answered her. ‘Yes, you ignorant, badly broughtup female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!’

So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness.

‘Not so fast!’ says O’Rourke. ‘I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!’

So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.

‘Did you gut the pillow with the knife?’ he says.

‘Yes, Father.’

‘And what was the result?’

‘Feathers,’ she said.

‘Feathers?’ he repeated.

‘Feathers everywhere, Father!’

‘Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.’

‘And that,’ said Father O’Rourke, ‘is GOSSIP!’


 And the article is now in my lesson plan for next year.

Off the Reservation

This post is also available at the Amazing Catechists website.

The general attitude in the Postmodern West is that Christianity is ok (well, tolerable) as long as you keep it private and out of the Public Square, as the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus would say. Stay on the reservation and there won't be any trouble. One way for the kids to learn otherwise is by seeing Christian morality presented in secular media such as newspapers and magazines.

Last Wednesday night the subject was the Mass: specifically the first half, the Liturgy of the Word. As part of the discussion of the Psalms, I mentioned King David, and the Psalms I like best, including Psalm 51 (excerpt): "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."

This reflects David's inescapable burden of guilt due to his affair with Bathsheba, and the wider woe that it caused; as the introduction to the Psalm says, "A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." I spent a couple of minutes on David & Bathsheba to remind the kids that Psalms weren't written out of thin air, but were reflections on what was going on in David's life; and we moved on to the Epistles.

Then in Thursday's newspaper, editorialist Cal Thomas referred to David and Bathsheba in his article about Tiger Woods (http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=2842). I saved the paper, and began tonight's class like this:

Sons & Daughters, remember last week we were talking about the Psalms...who wrote 'em? David. Yes, King David. I like Psalm 51 about David's guilt when he says "my sin is before me always" because that's how I feel until I drag myself into Confession. Tell me, what particular sin was bugging David? He had an affair with Bathsheba. Yes. Who's the famous golfer who had a bunch of affairs and now the whole world knows about it? Oh Tiger Woods! Yes. There was an article in the paper last Thursday about Tiger (I'll pull out the newspaper & show the article), and it compares Tiger to King David like so (I paraphrased from the following excerpt):

"King David understood repentance when he wrote Psalm 51. After committing adultery with Bathsheba and getting her pregnant, David ordered her husband, Uriah the Hittite, home from the battlefield, hoping he would sleep with Bathsheba so David might deny paternity. When Uriah refused for the sake of his troops, David ordered he be placed in the front lines where he was killed. Nathan the Prophet exposed David. King David repents (“against thee and thee only have I sinned” he tells God) and while God forgives him, he still takes the life of David’s son born from the adulterous affair.

It is a startling account many learn in Sunday School, and the lesson is that God does not regard sin lightly, as modern culture does."

Class, my point isn't to beat up on Tiger Woods, but just to show ya, lotsa people out there in the public world outside of church and Wednesday Sunday School speak up for what God says is right and wrong, and you should too.

If anybody wants to have the article, ask me after class.

(At the top, is that a reservation? Nope, it's a pic of Area 51 because there are no good images of Psalm 51.)

Two-Minute Cadre

This post is also available at the Amazing Catechists website.

We use the Bible more than the textbook in 6th grade catechism. The textbook shows what the kids should learn, but the learning itself is Bible-sourced. For that to work, the kids need some idea of what the Bible is. Asking Google "what is the Bible?" produces answers such as these:

The Bible is the account of the work of God in history bringing to fruition His prophetic declarations concerning Jesus.

The Bible is the account of God's action in the world and his purpose with all creation.

The Bible is the source of truth, the standard for meaningful life, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the key to true freedom and liberty, and true food for man's soul.

The Bible is a collection of individual books that together tell the story of a group of people bound by a common faith in God.

The Bible is a collection of writings which the Church has solemnly recognized as inspired.

Zzzzzz.....snorrrrg......snorrrrg.......braaack! Oh, 'scuze me, I just nodded off for a second there.

Nothing wrong with these definitions, but they won't do for 6th grade. They're too erudite, too abstract, too dry for kids...maybe even for me. Besides, the kids need more than a definition. They need a 6th-grade level concept of the Bible so that the stuff we learn in class isn't forgotten, doesn't float off into the ether. They need what the French call a cadre, a framework/ skeleton/ plan/ design. But 6th grade isn't about the Bible, per se, and time is tight on the lesson plans, so they gotta get a Bible cadre quick.

Quick means 2 minutes or so....here we go.

(I hold up the Bible with my finger separating the Testaments.) Hey y'all, what's this book? The Bible. Yes, it has two sections. The first is the Old Testament, which was written before Jesus was born. If the first section is the....?  Old Testament, yes, then what's the next one? The New Testament. Yes. If the Old Testament was written before Jesus was born then the New was written....? After Jesus was born.  Yes. Testament comes from the verb testify. When people testify in court, what do they do? They say what they saw somebody do. Yes, what happened; and they swear to tell only....? the truth. So the Testaments do what? They say what people did. Yes, what happened. God inspired the writers to write only the truth... like in court.

(Now I hold up the Bible divided into 3 parts with my fingers.) The Bible tells the history, the story of God and us; the story has 3 basic parts. The little part in front, Genesis, tells about when Adam & Eve physically lived in perfect friendship with God in Eden until they sinned. This last little bit is Revelations, which reveals to us that in the future we will once again physically live in perfect friendship with God as Adam and Eve once did. All the 1,500 pages in the middle is the story of us getting back to where we were in the first place. We're living in the middle part right now.

Now, quick review:  Two sections, the Old and...the New! The New Banana? No, the New Testament! Which was written when? After Jesus was born! Yes, and the first part of the story is about...Adam & Eve before they sinned. And the end? When we are with God again. And the middle? When we try to be in heaven. Umm, yeah, that explains it pretty well. Good children, y'all learn fast.

Ok, maybe 3 minutes.


Digression: During the Olympics, have you seen the Windows 7 commercial with the French guy? His French is the best, it's a real pleasure to hear him speak.

Ολυμπία

As is usual every two years, my wife and I hooked up the rabbit ears last Friday night so we could watch the Olympics....especially the part of the Opening Ceremony when all the athletes process into the stadium (much of the Opening Ceremonies bores me, or annoys me....digressing already, I see). I'm always struck by the confidence of youth that's on display during that parade of optimism. All the smiles, laughter, cutting up, taking pictures, the energy, the self-wonder, the physical expression of being the best in world (or at least in the company of the best in the world). I notice this Titanic confidence most of all in the athletes who have won before, and are back for more medals: confidence piled on confidence, masters of all they survey at such a young age. I see them competing, being interviewed: Usain Bolt, Phelps, Shaun White, Ohno. They reign supreme, exude an air of omnipotence. They're the best, and they know it, can't hide it, and don't try: the Conquerors. It's not in the nature of youth to soft-pedal, and I appreciate not having to endure bleats of false modesty.

Anyway, for the last couple of Olympics, this youthful barrage of virtuosity kept reminding me of something, or someone. I dimly recalled a definitive display of the boundless confidence of youth: watch me, I'm the greatest; I'm incredible, nobody else can do this as well; I'm in awe of myself, aren't you; I don't mean to brag, but I am the best in the world, it's just a fact; I love being the best and you can love it, too.

What was that definitive, physical expression of Omnipotent Youth? Some sports event? Something military? Political? A movie scene? No, no...all examples of barking up the wrong trees. And it wasn't Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger, either (why would you think that?); it was Van Cliburn playing the piano. Van who?

When I was a kid in the 1900s, Van Cliburn was a big, big deal. Wikipedia says:

"The first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 was an event designed to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority during the Cold War, on the heels of their technological victory with the Sputnik launch in October 1957. Cliburn's performance at the competition finale of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 earned him a standing ovation lasting eight minutes. When it was time to announce a winner, the judges were obliged to ask permission of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to give first prize to an American. "Is he the best?" Khrushchev asked. "Then give him the prize!" Cliburn returned home to a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the only time the honor has been accorded a classical musician. His cover story in Time proclaimed him "The Texan Who Conquered Russia."

America was crazy for Cliburn. My parents & grandparents, who played classical music around the house, made him a dinnertable topic. He was on TV. He was on the hi-fi. He was practically a kid.  He beat the Russians at their own game. He exposed me to Tchaiko and Rachmaninoff at an impressionable age. And he was gloriously full of his own potential. Just watch this world class performance:
 
YouTube - (Cliburn)Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 Mvt III
 
Could any Olympian revel in his victories more than this giant-killer?