Acceptance (a video demonstration)

By Comfort Zone Camp

We often talk about "Magical Moments" at Comfort Zone Camps - those moments that give you goose bumps or bring a tear to your eye... those moments that are often so rare in our every-day lives, but found regularly at camp.

These magical moments often come about when children or adults step out of their comfort zones and take risks to find themselves welcomed and accepted. Acceptance is one of the key ingredients that makes Comfort Zone Camp a place that campers, volunteers, and families choose to return time and time again.

We live in a death-adverse society that does not know how to respond when a friend or co-worker has a family member die. There are certain traditions in every culture that we act out, often awkwardly - sending cards or flowers, bringing meals, saying "I'm sorry." Beyond these initial reactions immediately after a death, we don't know what to do to comfort those who have had a loss over time. After the initial flood of support, comes silence.

Friendships often change after the loss of a family member. People don't know what to say, how to react, how to support someone long-term with his/her grief. So the topic is ignored. Grieving children have a "scarlet letter D" placed on their head - everyone at school knows. Without any fault of our own, we become outsiders.

At Comfort Zone Camp, this is not the case. At camp everyone has experienced a loss, so the "scarlet letter D" can be removed. Kids can get back to being kids. They can take risks - not only in sharing their story and their feelings, but take risks in being a kid again - and magical moments happen.

A  magical moment happened at our July 2009 Virginia camp. As part of what we call Zone Games, each team competed in an impersonation contest. We saw impersonations of our National Program Director, Pete, we saw munchkins from the Wizard of Oz, and we saw a very convincing Dakota Fanning. We also saw one little girl stand up, and take a risk to do her Taylor Swift impersonation. We caught this moment on tape...