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KIDS OF CHARACTER 11/2/2009
Doing For Others “Life’s most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” It was Martin Luther King Jr. who penned those words. It is interesting to dwell on King’s thought that doing for others is a persistent and urgent task. Many years ago I had an encounter with a little book written by Claude Bristol called Giving Yourself Away. Essentially, the book told the story of what it means to find the way, everyday, to offer yourself in acts of kindness, care and love to family, friends and those you encounter. The premise of his book was so simple, but so hard to keep on the radar screen of one’s daily life encounters. Kids of Character can learn from their teachers, grandparents, coaches and parents that doing for others reveals the ultimate task of the human experience. Doing for others is not expressed as labor, hard effort or obligation. Doing for others is an act of the heart that reveals the important story that we are here to be part of the good in other people’s lives. A teacher can use her classroom to teach the story of doing for others. Class jobs can be assigned to show how a classroom community is created when we share the experience of doing for others. A grandparent can show his grandchild the gift of doing for others by involving the grandchild in a community project that brings benefit to another…with whom the grandchild will never have direct contact. A coach can show her player what doing for others looks like by putting teammates together to learn skills from each other on the practice field. Parents can coach their child to do for others by involving their kids in youth organizations like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts where this important value is practiced in the activities of the organization. Today’s urgent action…what is it? It is the act of doing for others. It is crafted in the behavior of Kids of Character by adult mentors who help youngsters build the life habit of reaching out to touch the lives of those around them.
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