Be the Spark

Friday night, I was grateful to attend the "Be the Spark" rally at the Tacoma Dome. Among the speakers were Craig Kielburger and the esteemed Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The event was designed to motivate youth to be involved in the community and work for change, locally and globally. The response from college students in and around the Tacoma area was phenonmenal and watching the junior high and high school students' reactions was pretty amazing. Remember when you thought you could change the world? What happened?

I love the idea of getting students fired up to make a change, but I do have trepidation about what the response may be when those efforts run up against some of the brick walls in our world.

Brick walls of poverty, brick walls of ignorance, brick walls of apathy. Tutu says to, "Change the world one small act at a time." Those small acts put together make a big difference. So I'm getting to my point...hold on wait for it....

Guess what, you can still change the world. Paying forward a latte in the drive thru, makes my day. I feel proud of myself and look forward to the fact that someone behind me will smile because of something I did. Know what else? Encouraging my advisory students to participate in food drives, jogs for Japan, and doing so myself, changes someone's world. There are small things that we can do every day that changes the world, changes someone's world, changes their day. Buying free trade items like Tom's and flying their flag in my classroom, changes the world. Each small act erodes a brick.

Start small, but start. You can change someone's world, even if you never see it.