The Tragedy of Youth

I was walking home late Saturday morning from the Mayor's Workshop at Foundry 66 with every intention of grabbing some lunch and then heading back into downtown Norwich for the Haitian Flag Day celebration at Franklin Square and surrounding environs but got caught up in some sideshows and never made it back downtown.  My loss, I know, but there's always next year.

As I was walking up Broadway there were two pairs of (I'm assuming) Norwich Free Academy students standing catty-corner at the intersection of Chelsea Parade South and Broadway with hand-lettered signs hoping to direct passing motorists to a student-run car wash, probably on campus.

As I explained to the duo on the Chelsea Parade side who were hoping to catch drivers headed toward the Cathedral of Saint Patrick and downtown, they needed to stand farther UP Broadway, closer to the Civil War Soldier monument to alert drivers to the car wash AND give them enough time to hang a left at the intersection to get them to the campus and the car wash. 

I also suggested their classmates on the opposite corner nearest the Park Congregational Church wanted to position themselves farther DOWN Broadway, perhaps facing the Bishop's Residence, so that drivers heading towards Norwichtown could react to their sign with enough time to turn right at the church and arrive at the car wash.

The pair seemed appreciative of my suggestion and the thought process behind it and were moving farther up Broadway as I turned onto Chelsea Parade South to make my way home. I heard them hailed by the dynamic duo on the other side asking what they were about, but I wasn't prepared for the brutal candor as one of them shouted back "the old guy we just talked to had a great idea and maybe you should..."

I confess I sort of stopped listening at that point as my brain was trying to both comprehend and vigorously deny the 'old guy' characterization simultaneously but I found myself laughing out loud at how the tragedy of youth is that it's wasted on the young as I continued on my way. Of course, at my age, my hearing ain't what it used to be either I suppose, nor my eyesight when I look in the mirror in the morning.
-bill kenny