As I sat in the audience at Westside Neighborhood School (WNS) watching my son’s 3rd grade class perform John Mayer’s Waiting on the World To Change, I was overcome with joy. These beautiful, innocent children singing about how they can, will make a difference in this world we live in. Singing their hearts out – smiling, waving, being the kids that they are. At 8 or 9 years old, they are already learning how to be active members of the community, participating in toy drives, collecting food for the homeless, gathering pennies and coins for the Penny Harvest, performing holiday music at a local senior center. How lovely, how inspiring. And as I watched their faces, I began to imagine who they would become and what contributions they would make – to their communities, to their families, perhaps to their country. Cultivating the importance of giving, especially during a rather tenuous time in our world’s history and most especially during the holidays is a gift. A gift that I imagine will be carried with them throughout their lifetime. A gift WNS gives to all it’s students year after year. As the song came to an end, with high fives and cheers and radiant smiles, I catch my son’s eye and he gives me a thumbs up. I return with two thumbs up. Yes, a great mom moment.
About a week before the WNS Winter Program, we were having one of our ‘talks’ (we encourage using our voices when feelings, thoughts, fears, concerns arise) at dinner time and my son began to list some of the presents he’d like from Santa. We go over the list and then I stop and say, you know, Christmas is a fun time of year, we get to spend time with family, we get lots of presents, but you know, it’s not only about getting, it’s about…giving, he says. Then says, mom, can we give out presents to kids who don’t have them? Ah, yes, another great mom moment. And we agreed that we would do our own mini toy drive and gift presents to a local shelter or children’s hospital.
Whirled into the to do list of the season – something not spoken, not seen, not purchased calls up a deep desire in me to reflect on what really is important. Those kids gifted their talent, their spirit to us – giving and sharing of joy. Already making our world a better place.
In the words of Einstein -
The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.
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