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JUGHEADS
Youth Juggling Company, LLC
5905 Concord Avenue
Edina, MN 55424
jugheads@comcast.net
or 952.926.0896
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[Back to Paul's Platform main selection page]
April 2003
“The
Miracle of Decision-Making”
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In my Baccalaureate service for my public (!) high school, the Concert Choir (of which I was a member) sang a choral arrangement of “The Road Not Taken,” the classic poem by Robert Frost. As a young 18 year old, the words really landed on me, dramatized all the more through singing it:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both [...]
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Life is full of decisions. It really is a miracle that a series of individual decisions--along with life circumstances that none of us can really control--have brought us to this day, to this hour. However it happened, there will be a Juggle Jam next month and 120 kids have decided to put themselves on the line in front of hundreds of people each of two nights. As small a decision as that may seem, this is an example of “the (road) less traveled” for these kids. Sure, 120 is a lot of kids, but that’s only 2% of the kids in the Edina Public Schools district, if the 20 high school jugglers are included (and several kids don’t go to Edina Schools). Juggling is not a conventional activity by any measurement, but through it, the Jugheads have experienced forms of goal-setting and achievement that are truly unique.
Even now, three weeks from the show, thousands of collective decisions have yet to be made: getting costumes, getting caught up on homework, loyally attending rehearsals, practicing extra amounts as needed, and enjoying each day as part of the reward. Transcending the audience approval is the reward of personal character strengthened through our collective yet indivudal efforts over these many weeks. Rather than this month being an annoyance in the lives of we who are heavily involved (performers & parents), I pray it will make “all the difference” in immeasurable, transforming ways in the lives our families.