What Now? A Victory for Empathy

"I don't have any posterboard at home and my mom couldn't take me to get any. There is a business in our neighborhood and they put a pile of trash tiles out back every week or so, so I always get some for class projects." This was the answer given to me by an industrious and creative student when I asked her why she did her project on a ceramic tile. I honestly wasn't expecting that at all, I was expecting her to say that she felt like it was the best medium for this particular project. She didn't say it with any shame or expecting any pity, she said it as if it were the most normal thing in the world to tote a heavy and fragile ceramic tile into class when a creative project is due. Because that's just what she did-- she made it work. However, from that point forward I kept a stock of posterboard in my room for her to use for projects until her upcoming graduation.

"Do you care if I take some of those feminine products leftover from the bathroom? I don't have much at home and that makes it hard every month." This was the question asked of me after prom by a sweet and beautiful girl. She said it quietly, with a little bit of embarrassment, but also with a confidence that she deserves cleanliness just as much as the next person.

The student who creates a battle over every assignment and never has a pencil... the one who smells bad and the kids around wrinkle up their nose and ask me to light a candle... the one whose family receives assistance but whose parents never seem to think of the kids when they make purchases...

I can't tell you how many situations in public education where it is apparent to me that kids are the losers in every circumstance. And yet, for most of them, they make do. They scrounge. They are industrious. Even when they shouldn't have to be.

So when my Holocaust Literature class started making decisions about this year's memorial projects, I knew of one that I really wanted to see get off the ground-- a CHS Pantry. We will come up with a creative name for it at some point, but it's basically a place kids who need them can go (confidentially) to get school supply and hygiene items. I explained this need to a mixed group of students... some of whom were shocked at the idea that a need like this can be real ("So all girls don't have access to pads and tampons???") and some of whom knew exactly what the need is because they live it themselves.

One of the specific projects that set out to raise money for the pantry was the benefit concert group. This year I was more hands-off the memorial projects than I ever have been in the past. I've slowly been weaning myself from the need to take control (haha!), but this year I really stepped back (mostly out of survival-- I have found that parenting five teens in my house takes a lot out of me that I had previously used for the 119 teens in room 222). I gave them some class time to work, I had them submit an initial plan and some followup checkpoints, but for the most part it has been ALL THEM. And I have to say, this year has probably been our overall most successful year for memorial projects, so maybe I just needed to back up already! ;)

This group worked very quietly. Their project was scheduled for tonight, so the grade was already submitted before their event even happened. Every time I talked to any of them, everything seemed to be handled, so I left it with them. I guess they inspired major confidence in me because, for the first time EVER for a Holocaust Lit Memorial Event, I did not feel one ounce of anxiety or stress over it. When we pulled into that parking lot tonight and I saw how many cars were there, then we walked in and saw almost every seat full... I was thrilled. Then the concert began and my thrill turned to the deepest pride and appreciation.

The student who emceed the night was incredible. She had the perfect mix of personality and professionalism and came across as so much older than a high school student. Several of the performances were students from the Holocaust Lit class itself, plus several other CHS seniors, a Bradley student, and a group of 3 alums and another guy who are all students at Lee. What an incredible night of talent!!! The one thing I wish I could do is sing and MAN, tonight made that wish so much deeper! I got teary a time or two, thinking about the fact that 7:50 AM on Tuesday morning will not find that Holocaust Literature group sitting in room 222.

When all was said and done, we left with over $300 and several bags full of supplies for the pantry. As I told those four kids in a text, they participated in a process that is so necessary in this world but also so rare: They LOOKED around them (something the vast majority of us don't do, thanks largely to our self-interests and technology), they RECOGNIZED a need, and then they ACTED on it. And because of those actions, the commentary from the top of this blog post will start to be eliminated.

These four kids are WORLD CHANGERS, plain and simple. They are leaving CHS better than they found it. They are reaching outside their own circles, they are winning the battle against apathy, they are claiming a victory for empathy, and they gave me so much hope and joy this past semester and tonight. When I teach Holocaust Lit, I DO want my students to learn about the Holocaust. But as I tell them, if we leave it in 1945, we have done an injustice to the survivors and the victims. What can we learn about the Holocaust that can make our own world a better place? My final lesson in that class is called "What Now?" and it's one where I tell them about various agencies and non-profits and missions and causes that exist in the hopes that they will find their way down a path of social justice and action. Tonight, my purpose in teaching that class was fulfilled. They "got it". And I am so stinking proud of them.

{I am also thankful to the parents who had a helping hand in this, First United Methodist Church who allowed them to use their facility, and to the performers themselves who performed for free in order to raise the optimum amount of money for the cause.}