Wrote this as an essay for english. category essay, wasnt it? have fun.
The Great and the Not-So-Much
Ah, the glories of summer. Whether spent by the water soaking up the cancer, or inside building model planes, everyone has some marvelous memory of some summer or another. While some are busy mowing lawns, others may enjoy a leisurely walk in the park. While some parents let their children sleep away the summer, others drive their offspring to camp, a nice, week-long camp. My parents are guilty of shipping me off for at least one seven-day period each summer, longer if I’m lucky.
I’ve had some of my best times at camp, made some of my best friends there. I’ve met some of the biggest influences of my life in those short, fleeting moments of summer spent by some lake’s shore. Of these people a particular group sticks out in my mind, the people that the camp staff places in cabins and in lives who are there to facilitate spiritual growth and help their campers have a good time. Counselors. The way I see it, there’s two kinds of counselors: the Great and the Not-So-Much.
The Great. The greatest counselors I’ve had the privilege of being counseled by are of quite the special breed. Not everyone was born to be great, but those who were, truly were. Great counselors do many things. Not only do these special mentors help you learn while you are at camp, but they continue to be exceptional influences beyond the days of summer. Once, as I prepared to become a counselor myself, I was made to sit down and write a list of things great, good, and lesser counselors do. The list of greats went something like: forgive you, correct your grammar, tell you to wash your hands, save energy by going to the bathroom in the dark, teach you not to curse, inform you that bringing pocket knives to camp is bad, make sure you don’t text message while you are at camp, pun food after Barak Obama with you, giggle, come to the open mic nights you perform at, help you learn about Jesus, don’t lose you, help you learn German words, don’t hate you for being terrible at things like Tetris, and the like. But on a more serious note, the things great counselors do is more than things like giggling and punning. Great counselors are always there for their campers. Great counselors let their campers know that no matter what the issue, that camper will always find comfort and at least half way decent advice in their counselor.
The Not-so-much. The Not-So-Much counselors are the kind of counselors that, while they did their job and helped their campers have a super time at camp, don’t make any special effort to try to keep in touch after the summer months. The biggest thing that separates the Great from the Not-So-Much is simply the way the camper is left feeling after camp, how the counselor keeps in touch. Who doesn’t like getting a text message from a former counselor asking how something that was talked about over the summer is going? One thing Not-So-Much counselors sometimes do is play favorites. No camper likes to feel any less important than any other. Also, campers do what they see and what they’re told about. If a counselor talks about some not so smart thing that they did or they do, the camper might want to try it too. One rule most counselors live by is “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want five other kids doing.” Not-So-Much counselors sometimes forget that. But there are good things to be said for the Not-So-Much counselors; they don’t love their campers any less than the Great do.
In the end, counselors are counselors no matter what, some just so happen to be great. They all help us learn, some just don’t stop at the cabin door.
Ah, the glories of summer. Whether spent by the water soaking up the cancer, or inside building model planes, everyone has some marvelous memory of some summer or another. While some are busy mowing lawns, others may enjoy a leisurely walk in the park. While some parents let their children sleep away the summer, others drive their offspring to camp, a nice, week-long camp. My parents are guilty of shipping me off for at least one seven-day period each summer, longer if I’m lucky.
I’ve had some of my best times at camp, made some of my best friends there. I’ve met some of the biggest influences of my life in those short, fleeting moments of summer spent by some lake’s shore. Of these people a particular group sticks out in my mind, the people that the camp staff places in cabins and in lives who are there to facilitate spiritual growth and help their campers have a good time. Counselors. The way I see it, there’s two kinds of counselors: the Great and the Not-So-Much.
The Great. The greatest counselors I’ve had the privilege of being counseled by are of quite the special breed. Not everyone was born to be great, but those who were, truly were. Great counselors do many things. Not only do these special mentors help you learn while you are at camp, but they continue to be exceptional influences beyond the days of summer. Once, as I prepared to become a counselor myself, I was made to sit down and write a list of things great, good, and lesser counselors do. The list of greats went something like: forgive you, correct your grammar, tell you to wash your hands, save energy by going to the bathroom in the dark, teach you not to curse, inform you that bringing pocket knives to camp is bad, make sure you don’t text message while you are at camp, pun food after Barak Obama with you, giggle, come to the open mic nights you perform at, help you learn about Jesus, don’t lose you, help you learn German words, don’t hate you for being terrible at things like Tetris, and the like. But on a more serious note, the things great counselors do is more than things like giggling and punning. Great counselors are always there for their campers. Great counselors let their campers know that no matter what the issue, that camper will always find comfort and at least half way decent advice in their counselor.
The Not-so-much. The Not-So-Much counselors are the kind of counselors that, while they did their job and helped their campers have a super time at camp, don’t make any special effort to try to keep in touch after the summer months. The biggest thing that separates the Great from the Not-So-Much is simply the way the camper is left feeling after camp, how the counselor keeps in touch. Who doesn’t like getting a text message from a former counselor asking how something that was talked about over the summer is going? One thing Not-So-Much counselors sometimes do is play favorites. No camper likes to feel any less important than any other. Also, campers do what they see and what they’re told about. If a counselor talks about some not so smart thing that they did or they do, the camper might want to try it too. One rule most counselors live by is “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want five other kids doing.” Not-So-Much counselors sometimes forget that. But there are good things to be said for the Not-So-Much counselors; they don’t love their campers any less than the Great do.
In the end, counselors are counselors no matter what, some just so happen to be great. They all help us learn, some just don’t stop at the cabin door.
2 comments:
so which one are you???
haha well i hope ill be the great one :]
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