| Kids In Action
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
During my infamous eighth grade year, our English teacher assigned us a major project. In a typed paper of at least six pages, we were to explain who we would like to be for one day. We were allowed to choose anyone, from any time in history, past or present, male or female. The only restriction was that this person had to have actually lived (or still be living)—in other words, no picking Bugs Bunny or Superman.
I thought long and hard about this, first because the project would count as 50% of our final grade in English, and my other 50% wasn’t too great. But most of all, I wanted to be someone important, someone who hadn’t been or wouldn’t be forgotten after his or her death. Naturally, I had to consult with my buddies, Mary Ann and Walter.
“I chose Queen Victoria,” Mary Ann said. “She ruled longer than any other queen or king in England.”
Walter cracked up. “She was always making dumb rules, trying to run everyone else’s lives. No wonder people kept trying to kill her.”
“You don’t know anything,” Mary Ann replied. “Whose shoes would you want to wear for a day, Al Capone’s?”
“I’m picking P.T. Barnum,” Walter said. “I could write a whole book about him and the circus and all that stuff.”
While Mary Ann and Walter poked fun at each other, my mind continued to whirl. There were so many worthy people to be, if only for a day. But I decided I would be someone who’d led an adventurous life, and one name kept popping up over and over—Robert Ripley.
Who in the heck is that? you’re probably asking. Mary Ann and Walter did, too. I explained he was the man who produced our favorite Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in the comic section of our newspaper. There were so many cool facts to know about him, from his birth on Christmas day in 1893 to his death on May 27, 1949.
Ripley had been a professional baseball player until an injury ended his career. So he turned to his other talents, cartooning and writing.
After taking his first trip around the world, he realized that there were fascinating people and stories no matter where he visited. Thus Believe It or Not was born, beginning first as a cartoon panel presenting weird, true stories about such things as dogs who ate glass, a person who made teeny, tiny clothes for fleas, a lady with a two feet long beard, and the world’s smallest painting, done on the top of a pinhead. As different media were invented, Ripley’s fabulous finds were soon shared though his radio show and then a television show. Today, many cities, including mine, have a Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum. And his cartoon panel continues to appear in many newspapers, still named for him but drawn by other cartoonists.
Anyway, I pictured myself traveling to the depths of Africa or another continent for one day, finding an amazing animal or unique individual whose story I could add to my collection. I couldn’t think of anyone who had a more adventure-filled life than Robert Ripley.
If you could step into someone’s shoes for one day, who would it be? Why out of all the people in the world would you choose that person? Pretend you are that person and write about the one day you spent in his or her shoes. Where did you go and what did you do? What did you learn? If you would like to share part of your day with Action readers, send a paragraph or two to action@unitedspinal.org or mail it to:
KIDS IN ACTION
United Spinal Association
75-20 Astoria Boulevard
Jackson Heights, NY 11370-1177
By the way, the A- I received on my paper brought my English grade up to a C.
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.
