I had on my desk a stack of certificates to sign for presentation at an upcoming ceremony. I do this almost every week - bar mitzvah certificates mostly, but also an occasional Certficate of Appreciation, Eagle Scout Certificate or some such thing. Come to think of it, I sign my name a lot considering the letters and thank you notes my office generates weekly. With about three certificates left to sign, I noticed that I always wrote "Rabbi" in print but signed my name in script.
As a child I had very good penship. And I began to think of Mrs. Polio, my first grade teacher, and her penmanship lessons. I actually don't remember the lessons so much as I remember the tests. After spending a more intensive few weeks on penmanship, she gave us a test that, she said, would be sent out for evaluation and grading. We would be evaluated both individually and as a class. Gold seal was the highest honor followed by gold star then darker colored stars with red star indicated the worst. I shuddered to think of who could possibly get such a red star. Who, after all, couldn't write the letters neatly enough to warrant some measure of gold?
I decided that I would do the last three certificates with my full signature in proper script - title and all. Mrs. Polio - not to mention my first grade self - would have been mortified to see that I could did not write "Rabbi" in gold seal script. I had grown so accustomed to making the "R" in print that I began with a print "R." The worst problem, however, turned out the be the lower case b's. Halfway through the first one, I realized I could not finish the letter without thinking about it. The pause produced a jarring dent in the letter and the following attempt to compensate completely butchered it. Not only had a failed a first grade level task, but I had ruined the certificate. How do I explain to our staff that I needed a new certificate because I could not remember how to sign my name on the first one?
(This is a work in progress.... Have you ever experienced this kind of memory lapse? Something so basic but, it turns out, more complicated than "riding a bike?").
This really hit home with me. I still remember my second grade teacher, Miss McKeever, who had beautiful handwriting. And once upon a time, mine wasn't too bad. But today,just ask the students in my second grade class at MRT about Mrs. Calderwood's handwriting on the Board -- they may not be too impressed. (And that goes for Hebrew and English.)
ReplyDeleteBetween writing on the computer (my day job), lack of time on any given crazily busy day, and even my not so great eyesight, my handwriting has suffered! I really don't have the time or patience to be just a little neater with my signature: for years I've just used my first initial instead of my whole first name.
So what would Rabbi Roos's first grade teacher or my Miss McKeever say about today's paltry penmanship among adults and children? Maybe we need to take just a few seconds more to enjoy the scrolls and the whorls. To be in the moment a bit more, not in so much of a rush, not so impatient if we don't have the speed of a computer keyboard. Maybe even then, we'll remember how to make those tricky capital letters.
Lisa Calderwood
MRT