IJN intern Eshley Spitzer shares a youth-oriented perspective on current issues.
ANOTHER Tisha b’Av has arrived. It creeps up among summer festivities, planting itself in the midst of a glamorous heat wave. In the middle of our summer fun comes a summer fast and the saddest day of the Jewish year.
Each year, I am surprised by how few Jews acknowledge or are even familiar with Tisha b’Av.
Is it because Hebrew school is out in August?
How is it that the saddest day on the Jewish calendar has become so devalued?
Despite having been a diabetic camper and now an experienced medical staffer at the American Diabetes Association’s Camp Colorado for type-1 diabetic children, I know that all expectations go straight out the window once camp starts.
There are 100 medical volunteers on campgrounds, vials upon vials of insulin, alcohol swabs, syringes, testing meters, finger pokers, test strips—all the necessary baggage. Standing in the supply room can make any diabetic feel like a kid in a (sugar-free) candy store.
As a member of the med staff, you can expect 250 campers— a number that increases each year as the ADA tries to push the maximum capacity to allow one more camper the experience of a lifetime.
The campers run around with highs and lows, often in need of a blood sugar test, an insulin correction or glucose treatment. Hardly is there ever a dull, steady-blood-sugar moment.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 July 2011 03:14 )
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