Point Man
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T
he boys had worked very hard during the summer camp season.
The head counselor Nani (short for Nesanel) had developed an elaborate system to earn points that led to “valuable” prizes.
There were many ways to earn points. One could learn extra during rest period for example or clean the bunk quickly to free up ten minutes of learning time.
There was also a myriad of chesed projects like the weekly trip to the senior center which gave the boys an opportunity to connect with their elders or the biweekly trip to a camp of special needs boys with whom Nani’s campers could interact and learn.
Sometimes Nani would announce a special one-hour Flash Sale he called “DOGOF — Do One (Mitzvah) Get One Free.” And for that one hour all points were doubled.
Nani’s point system was so elaborate Einstein himself couldn’t have deciphered it. By the end of each summer when Nani published the final tally of points there was general mayhem and outright chaos as boys who earned 8483.4 points claimed he’d made a mistake and they had really earned 8 887.9 points.
The last few days of camp were filled with dinei Torah as the boys had the opportunity to present their claims for more points.
Some boys claimed the hour of the Flash Sale really ended at 8:09 and not at 8:08 as Nani claimed.
There were other boys who appealed their point total by claiming Nani had forgotten to write down all of the extra points they’d earned over Shabbos.
The arguments and re-tallying went on for the last three days.
Finally the last day of camp had arrived.
This was the day that all of the boys who had extra points or who had wrangled more points out of Nani were able to make a trip to the treasure chest one final time and retrieve their coveted prizes.
As can be imagined when you have twenty 11-year-old boys descending upon a small chest full of little toys and games you certainly don’t have order and not too much civility.
There were boys who claimed they’d “called” the last travel checker set (it made no difference that the boy who claimed the checkers had never played checkers in his life) and there were boys clutching a small paddle with an attached red ball as if it were a diamond ring.
Finally Nani was able to restore order and everyone more or less received their desired items.
As the boys were finally settling down and resting on the grass near the almost cleaned out treasure chest Nani noticed Baruch standing next to him.
Nani looked at Baruch a quiet very well-mannered boy who never caused any problems. As Nani observed the boy he asked him “Baruch there’s not much left. What do I owe you a prize for?”
Baruch looked up at Nani who had worked very hard to guarantee each and every boy a good summer and said “I don’t want any prize. I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you thank you. You really made this one of the best summers of my life. Thank you so much.”
Nani asked the boy “You really don’t want any prize? You just wanted to say thank you?”
“Yes” said Baruch “I just wanted to say thank you.”
Tears welled up in Nani’s eyes and he knew he had to tell his father about Baruch. He knew his father would appreciate this story.
Nani was correct.
Nani’s father’s eyes were wet with tears of pride as he heard the story about Baruch.
How could I not be proud? After all Nani is my son.
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