I've never really been super religious. Too many rules and constrictions, that I just figured, someone made this stuff up to make us miserable. However, lately I started going to my moms community church. I went, at first, to make her happy. The church got her through a lot after my grandpa died. In all honesty, I owe the church her life. So I went, guard up, expecting to hate it. I walked out with tears in my eyes. The service had touched me so much, I was crying the whole time. So now, it's kind of become a weekly occurrence. I've renewed my faith in God, without all the restrictions and rules saying you had to do things a certain way to get into heaven. Obviously, I'm not going to go shoot up the next person I see, and think i'll get into heaven, but I realize that God loves me unconditionally, and that honestly feels amazing to me.
So, why am I bringing this up? Well, today the mass happened to be about children and the power of a simple minute. It made me think about when I was younger, and in 3rd grade. The guest speaker talked about how as children, we are like wet cement. The imprint of an adult can last a lifetime, but the older we get the harder it is to, metaphorically, imprint or break that cement. A child's entire life can be impacted and changed for ever in just one minute. Which made me think all the way back to Mrs. Hunt's class. I sat there in my desk pondering what to write about; my options were limitless. It just had to be a narrative paper. I began writing away with my freshly sharpened #2 pencil (I remember being frustrated that I couldn't use my mechanical pencil back then), trying to put in as many of the "5 senses" I could think of. I handed in my paper and hoped for the best. I knew I was a good student, but never the best, always just good enough to get by with about a B average.
The next day my second grade teacher stopped by. She called out my name and asked me to come out in the hallway. I was nervous, everyone always used to joke about how she was a witch. I remember we would stay behind after she left the classroom and sneak in to find her broom. It also didn't help that her name was Mrs. Richards, or to us, Wichards. So I went to the hallway and she asked me how my writing was going. I explained to her how I had just written a narrative paper the other day. By this point, I was a little nervous because the paper I had written was about her. Sure enough, she pulled out the paper and on top was a shiny gold star and a huge A+. I was shocked, she explained that Mrs. Hunt thought it was such an amazing piece of work that she should show it to the person I wrote it about. Mrs. Richards congratulated me and even gave me a huge chocolate cupcake. From that day on, I knew I wanted to write. It's the one thing in my life that i've always been better than average on.
To this day, I really don't quite remember what I wrote about my 2nd grade teacher. All I know, is that one simple moment changed the course of my life. The point of all of this, is what you say to a child will affect them forever. There's so much corruption in this world, and in the end, they are the ones who will have the burden of these terrible things. So take some time out of your life to tell a child something that will impact them and maybe change their life for the better. They are our future after all.
