Reflecting on a Year Gone By
With Rosh Hashanah in the rear-view mirror and Yom Kippur coming up next week, this is a time of year when we reflect on the past year, make amends and try to do better in the new year. At Camp Chi, we provide a place where people learn to live together. But what happens when the mark is missed, and a conflict arises? While it’s not simple, we strive to teach our campers how to reflect, how to own their part in a conflict, how to apologize and how to take action to change their behavior. For many of our campers, the moment of disagreement provides the perfect opportunity to grow and address something at that time.
Camp may have ended a month ago or longer, but the lessons our campers learn stay with them. A lot happens at camp in a day, let alone a week or a session. We help our campers process and reflect each week during Shabbat and each night during night time ritual.
To reflect on a year is a different scale of reflection and to learn how to do it, we look to some of the programs our Cornerstone Fellows developed this summer. For our Shoreshim, Garinim, Yeladim and Kadima campers, the fellows taught them how to reflect on a situation and who to go to when you need help. Sometimes that may be a counselor, a teacher, or a parent. But they also learned it could be a peer and they learned how to help one another if they were approached.
The Tsofim campers learned different reflection tactics, including meditation and yoga, as they developed reflection goals. Chalutzim campers learned about the power of conversation, as they reflected on the age of social media and how your online presence can steer a conversation. They reflected on situations both in their personal lives and in the media, and how we can use the power of social media to do what is right.
The Cornerstone Fellows helped the Habonim campers reflect on what they stand for, issues that are important to them and why those issues are so important to them. They had honest conversations, discussing how to be socially responsible as they learn to coexist with others who have differing opinions.
Our Noar campers learned a lesson that rings true around the High Holidays – what happens when we fail. The teens analyzed the domino effect of missing the mark, but also realized that the effort and energy put forth, and the effect they have, are more important than the final result.
At camp, we use these tactics all the time to look back on the year we had. We look back on the summer and all the memories and moments that came along with it. While reflecting, we realize at times we missed the mark and could have done better. For that or anything else, we ask your forgiveness. Now we start wiping everything clean and start anew. We use the reflection tactics taught by the Cornerstone Fellows to set the framework as we set our professional and personal goals for 5779. We encourage you to do the same, reflect on the year gone by and aim with the best of intentions to make this year the best one yet.
Shana Tova U’metukah & G’mar Hatima Tova
Have a Sweet and Good Year & May You Be Inscribed for Good