I am at a conference in San Antonio. Just got inspired by a 27 year old who has done more for the world than most people twice his age. His name is Craig Kielburger and he has written a book titled, Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World. At the ripe old age of 12, he created an organization, Free the Children, and as an adult, he has been nominated for The Nobel Peace Prize four times. On top of all of that, he's a nice guy--well, he's Canadian, eh.
There was a time in my life when I would have been jealous of someone like him and wondered why I didn't do something big and dramatic when I was young. I always wanted to have some sort of impact on the world and for a while I felt like it needed to be something on a really huge scale. I wanted to do something so great that Bryant Gumbel would call and invite me for an interview on the "Today Show." Then when he became Bryant the sports guy, I began planning to meet Oprah. Too late for that too.
What I am finding is that my impact does not have to register on the Richter scale to be important. Every day as a teacher, I encounter 125 or so students in my classroom, and many more in the hallways. I have an opportunity to reach hundreds of kids from 7:30am to 3:30pm and beyond. That's a lot of access to raw energy. That's power.
Craig talked about providing that "spark" to kids to get them to find their passions and their realize that they have certain gifts. I am dedicated to being flint and steel.
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