KIDS IN ACTION |
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
When my eighth grade class returned to school after the holidays, we were surprised to find a substitute teacher at Miss Anderson’s desk.
“I am Sister Gertrude,” she said. “I’ll be with you for the rest of this week while Miss Anderson recovers from the flu.”
Then she stood and walked to the front of the desk. I gasped. She was the biggest nun I’d ever seen! Her voice matched her size as she boomed, “I am here to tell you that in this new year, each one of you will do something that will change the world.”
Huh? I peeked at Walter who sat across the aisle. “Whack-o,” he whispered. “Nut case,” muttered Peter from the desk behind me.
Sister Gertrude ignored our whisperings and confused looks and proceeded to tell us a true story.
“A well-known television preacher wanted to build a cathedral entirely of glass,” she said. “He asked viewers from around the world to send money, however little, to buy the over 10,000 squares of glass that would eventually be glued together to become the Crystal Cathedral.
“One day after the cathedral was completed, the busy preacher was racing through an airport to catch a plane when a little old lady stopped him and told him that she had paid for one of those little squares of glass. In his hurry, the preacher barely acknowledged her. But the lady hurried after him. ‘Sir,’ she said firmly, ‘without that pane of glass I bought, your cathedral would have a hole in it.’”
After she told us the story, Sister Gertrude sat on the edge of the desk and explained that no matter how small or insignificant we felt, each one of us could change the world in some way. She promised us that for the rest of the week, we could spend fifteen minutes each morning sharing our world-changing ideas. “I’m thinking of small ideas,” she reminded us. “For example, perhaps you’ll decide to brighten the life of one wounded soldier by writing him or her a letter every month.”
By the end of the week, we’d thought of tons of small ways to better Earth. Sister Gertrude smiled the most at Walter’s. He thought of picking up one piece of trash from the street every day. “That will add up to tons by the end of the year,” he said.
“Exactly,” Sister Gertrude said. “The world will be a tiny bit cleaner because or your actions, Walter.”
I decided that I would try to brighten the world of a homeless man who kids in the neighborhood called Whacko Willy. He was skinny as a pole and wore filthy, moth eaten clothes. He scared me, because whenever kids walked by where he happened to be, he waved his arms and shouted to keep away—probably because most taunted him.
I didn’t go near him, but every time I saw Willy that year, I made myself look at him, smile, and say hello. Since he never answered or smiled back, I doubted I was making any change in his life or the world. But I continued. Then one rainy summer day as I hurried to the store for my grandmother, I heard a voice say, “Hey! Aren’t I good enough for you today?”
Willy was huddled in the alley I’d just passed.
“I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I didn’t see you.”
“Fine day for ducks,” he said.
He never spoke to me again. But sometimes I swear I saw him barely nod his head each time I greeted him. Eventually Willy wandered off and I never saw him again. But I like to think that acknowledging his right to be in the world was my little way of changing it.
What about you? Here we are beginning yet another year. Do you have an idea of how you might change the world this year? E-mail it to: action@unitedspinal.org or mail them to:
KIDS IN ACTION
United Spinal Association
75-20 Astoria Boulevard
Jackson Heights, NY 11370-1177
This new year is your opportunity to make our planet a better place. Seize it!
Kathleen M. Muldoon is a children’s book author and writing instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. She lives in San Antonio, Texas
