A better idea

As we closed our notepads and materials at the end of a Friday afternoon meeting, I asked a colleague seated next to me what she was planning to do for the weekend.

"I'm going to relieve my husband," she said.

"Is he worried about something?" I asked.

"Well, yes, in a way. For the past five days and nights he's been camped out in the school parking lot with other such folks holding a priority place in line. Enrollment for next year is done through lottery, so you have to get in the queue and stay there until the opening of registration. My husband is retired, so he offered to hold a place in line for our daughter so that she could be sure to get her children in this school for next year."

"So you mean that your husband has been outside at the school, night and day, just to be early in line when the registration time opens? When is that?" I asked.

"Oh, registration opens on Monday, so he just has to sit through this weekend. My daughter will devote time, too, and tomorrow I'll take my turn."

We talk about this more as we both head back to our offices. I learn that this school is one of the "easier ones" – another school has a 12-day campout time. I can hardly imagine being in line all day and all night for 12 days. Imagine how uncomfortable that is. Imagine what the weather changes might be. Imagine the interpersonal confrontations that could occur due to the competition of the whole thing.

I have a better idea. Instead of the camping out to save a place in line, why not channel that energy into constructive service for the school?

Surely the school has a huge list of things that parents could do to be helpful, from small painting jobs to doing library inventory to parking lot restriping to computer equipment testing to any number of other services. A parent's place in line could be calculated by the number of hours contributed to the school during the enrollment season. All that useless time sitting in line holding one's place then translates into a win/win. It's also a better example of constructive energies for the school's students to experience.

[Sr. Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.]