3.5 Hours to Change America

Entrusted Legacy has raised the question, “Can 3.5 hours a day change America?”  Is there remedy to be found in the 3.5 hours after-school each day?  If we are to believe Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education when he states, "If we are serious about having more students be productive citizens, if we are serious about having more students prepared to be successful in college, dramatically improving the quality and the quantity of after-school programming is going to be at the heart of our work as a country." then the answer is a resounding “YES!”  Entrusted Legacy believes after-school is an integral part of the solution.

After-school programs provide something every person needs—mentors and positive role models.  How many mentors have you had?  Do you remember seeking advice from this wise and trusted counselor and teacher?  Think back to the person who had a profound and positive effect on your life and the choices you’ve made as an adult.  Picture the person’s face.  Hear the words of encouragement and absolute belief in the possibility of you in this person’s voice.  Recall the feelings of self-confidence and assuredness you had in your personal judgment, ability and power to get things done because this person first believed in you.  Was this mentor your parent, a grandparent or your pastor?  Was your mentor a favorite teacher, coach or tutor?  Was it the plumber or mechanic down the street who could fix anything?  Or was it your best friend’s mother who always had time to listen to you?  Imagine what it would be like to have the opportunity to replicate this with hundreds of youth.

Join with Entrusted Legacy to be sure that afterschool professionals have been trained to handle the responsibility of being a positive role model and mentor for youth.  Entrust you legacy to us.  Donate now!  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org, by calling (661) 322-3437, or going on line at www.entrustedlegacy.org and donating now!

“Do As I Say”?

Thanks to an article posted by Elyse Bruce on April 12, 2010 we have a history of the phrase,

“Do as I say, not as Ido.”  

  Here’s what she shares: 

“This is an admonitory phrase that has been used by parents the world over for generations and yet, very few people seem to know its origins.  In the Spectator on June 24, 1911, this advice was published:  “It has always been considered allowable to say to children, ‘Do as I say, rather than as I do.’”

This phrase, however, harkens back to several generations before 1911.  In John Selden’s book Table Talk which was published posthumously in 1689 (and written in 1654 just prior to his death), he wrote:  ”Preachers say, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’  And while the advice is sound, he was not the first author to offer it.  In 1546, John Heywood’s “A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue“ the following can be found:  “It is as folke dooe, and not as folke say.”

However, the Anglo-Saxons in the 12th Century were known to say:  “Ac theah ic wyrs do thonne ic the lære ne do thu na swa swa ic do, ac do swa ic the lære gyf ic the wel lære” which translates into:   “Although I do worse than I teach you, do not do as I do, but do as I teach you if I teach you well.”

However, when all is said and done, this saying can be traced all the way back to the Bible in the Book of St. Matthew (verses 1-3) where the King James Version states: “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples saying  “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

As a reflective person I have to ask myself, “Do I walk my talk?”  Of course the answer is “Not always”, but when it comes to being a positive role model and mentor for youth, I believe that I do this in my direct interactions with youth but also by helping to prepare role models and mentors for their work with youth.  Please join be by investing in the mission of Entrusted Legacy.  You can find out about our work at www.entrustedlegacy.org