Model United Nathan

My son, Nathan, has participated in the Model UN program at his high school for a few years now. When I first found out that Nathan was involved in the Model UN, I was pleasantly surprised. Given that Nathan liked to play airsoft in his free time, emulating guerilla warfare with guns that shot plastic pellets, I found it amusing that he chose to participate in a “can’t we just all get along” atmosphere where weapons weren’t allowed.

Though,I had my doubts. When I recently cleaned his room, I came across this. It’s his UN worksheet.



When I got to the bottom and saw "Motion to nuke Iraq," I laughed. Nathan had always been a lover and not a fighter. And, when I asked about it later, he said that he had been peeved with the way the whole UN session was being run, hence his note.

This past weekend, Nathan went to a Model UN conference at M.I.T. Leading up to this event, there had been a bake sale to subsidize costs. Of course, Nathan’s contribution to this sale was brownies from a box.

He added butterscotch chips to mix it up. Five minutes after they came out of the oven, he spatula-ed them out of the pan. Then, off he went with his dark brown globules of gooey cake that were dotted with flecks of yellow.

Apparently, they sold enough dark brown globules of gooey cake that were dotted with flecks of yellow, because the next thing I knew, he was headed to M.I.T. Well, he didn’t tell me that explicitly. I only realized it from (shhhhh!) stalking his Facebook page and reading his status, which said, “MIT for the weekend.”

Sometimes I feel guilty reading Nathan’s Facebook page. I read something, and then I say something to him in regard to something he’s posted. He responds, “Mom!!!” as if I’ve breeched his privacy.

I wanted to say, “Hey, last time I knew, anything you posted was public record. I’m your public mother. I can read the records, Dude!"

Nathan posted, “Spent more time packing for MIT than I did preparing for the actual conference.” One of his friends asked, “Preparation?” Nathan responded, “As in I found someone who owns Risk.”

I was thinking to myself, “Surely, these kids with their X-boxes and Wii systems aren’t talking about the game that one plays on a piece of cardboard without the benefit of any super-duper graphics or an Internet connection?” I read on. Two people liked that post, so believe it or not, Nathan and two other teenagers liked board games.

Then there was a response to Nathan’s post. It said, “I'm bringing Monopoly too, btw.” It floored me to see that “3 people” liked that.

And, another post asked, “Shall I bring Lord of the Rings Risk, Trilogy Edition? Just in case?” Of course, the poster put a smiley face after that. I sensed that a few of Nathan’s friends were now reeling him in from the cardboard landscape that required no super-duper graphics card nor an Internet connection, because four people liked that post!

One naïve parent (no, it wasn’t me!) asked, “You guys are actually going to so some model UN-type things, too, aren’t you??” I laughed. I wanted to respond with “Hello?!?!?!!”

I thought to myself, they’ll do things they’re not supposed to, have fun, and be good Model UN ambassadors. It would probably not be in that order, but they were kids. The good thing was that they were at least thinking about “mobilizing international cooperation to resolve problems that affect countries all over the world” or playing Risk, whichever came first.

I texted Nathan on Saturday to see how his ambassadorship was going. He responded, “Fine. Today sucks.” I asked, “Why?”

He responded, “Crappy topic. I had no opinion.” I was surprised when I read that, because Nathan always had an opinion. I responded, “Well, you can’t always have an opinion.”

After Nathan’s post of “MIT for the weekend,” one of his friends posted “Nerd.” I saw that and pressed the “Like” button. Nathan wasn’t really a nerd, but as a Mom, I was glad he sort of was when it came to Model UN, Magic Cards, and Dungeons and Dragons.

On Monday morning, I caught up with all the latest Facebook news. Funny, but I kept seeing Nathan’s name pop up in association with new friends. “Nathan is now friends with Meg Butterfield and 3 other people.”

Two hours later, I logged onto Facebook. I read the latest news. “Nathan is now friends with Samatha Smith and four other people.”

And, today, I logged onto Facebook. I again read the lastest news. “Nathan is now friends with Ava Gardener and six other people.”

I finally became curious. I clicked the “other people” link. I was surprised when I saw that they were all female.

Nathan went to a conference. He came away with 16 friends, all of them female. For all his self-doubt with girls, Nathan had finally come into his own at the Model UN of all places.

I think he found he could woo more people, especially those of the female persuasion, with his opinions than with his airsoft gun. Nerd? No. Ambassador Chick Magnet? Yes! ♥