Elli's school is celebrating its 100th year of existence this year. The celebration is going to take place in the fall but we are already gearing up for it as the parent's council tries to sort out what activities might take place, how we can prepare the school for it, and other details. It is an odd thing for me because although I like working with the council and volunteering I feel absolutely no interest whatsoever in the 100th anniversary.
It won't be any surprise to anyone that knows me, I suppose, since I don't care about birthdays at the best of times and a big old brick building is hardly one to have its feelings hurt. I don't get the necessity of spending a lot of money on celebrating a completely arbitrary milestone when we could instead focus on what the children themselves could benefit from. It isn't just money of course but also volunteer hours and effort; I put in time for a variety of different things at the school but I just can't see myself caring enough to show up to the 100th celebration. I wouldn't even bother to go if I wasn't volunteering so I can't see how I would go about working up the gumption to work hard to prepare for it!
I know that the community tends to see this differently than I do. It isn't so much that I don't want them to have their fun as I can't put myself in a mindset where this celebration makes any sense. We should spend time and money because shovels broke the ground in 1913 instead of 1914? Or 1981? No comprehension. This seems like it is part of my usual puzzlement at the rituals people go through for reasons that aren't well defined. Tradition, and the reverence for it that the average person has, simply escapes me.
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