Perception Is Everything

You may have read this story before but it perfectly captures not only the importance of our perceptions but the importance of acting ourselves rather than thinking someone else is going to do that for us.  While some claim this story is an urban legend, if it is, it really doesn’t diminish its power.  This exchange occurs when an American ship at sea spots a light in the distance, bobbing along the horizon. 

Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."

Canadians: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."

Americans: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."

Canadians: "No, I say again, you divert YOUR course."

Americans: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP."

Canadians: "This is a lighthouse.Your call."

We’ve all had those lighthouse experiences.  At Entrusted Legacy we want to encourage you to change your course and invest with us so we can be sure that adults who are working with you can have the training they need to be positive role models and mentors for youth.  Our goal is to unleash the power of these fine people.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and DONATE now.  Entrust your legacy with us.  Together we can make a difference.  

Making A Difference

The story I am going to share with you is a true story, although I will not name the heroine of this story.  This is a story of the difference that can be made in the life of a person when a mentor and positive role model enters the picture.  The success in this story began about twelve years ago, but before I get to that part, I think you need a little context.  A beautiful young teenager was unhappy at home.  She discovered an “older” boyfriend who could take her away from the less than supportive environment.  Soon she was pregnant with her first child.  She kept going to high school but soon got pregnant for a second time.  By the age of 16 she had two children and by 17 she had added a third.  Through this all she stuck to her guns and was able to get a high school diploma.  This accomplishment speaks to her tenacity and will. 

She applied for an opportunity to participate in AmeriCorps, an organized program that allows people to give back to the community.  For this young woman it also gave her a breather, provided her with a small monthly stipend, medical insurance for herself and child care for her children.  She elected to serve for two years.  During that time she connected to a role model and mentor who believed in her.  And slowly over that two years, she began to believe in herself.  After she completed her years of service she was hired to work in an afterschool program and she realized that she could be a mentor for middle school girls in a way that others could not.  She worked with the girls, shared with them the challenges of being a teenage parent, and as she helped them believe that each of them could succeed, she began to believe it for herself as well.  All the time, her mentor stood by her and encouraged her. 

She used her AmeriCorps Education Award to get a college education.  She has successfully changed not only her own life but the life of her four children (she had one more after AmeriCorps), and she has reached hundreds of people with her story and by becoming a role model and mentor to others.

It is not difficult to imagine how this competent and compassionate young woman could have ended up a negative statistic had she not found a person who was willing to invest in her, to spend time with her, to support her, and to believe in her.  You have the opportunity to contribute and help Entrusted Legacy create more stories with this happy ending.  People who work with youth need to be trained and mentored so they too can pay it forward.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org or check out our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org. 

The Little Red Hen

There is a children’s story entitled The Little Red Hen.  In this story, a folk tale of probable Russian origin,  the Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat and asks all of the farmyard animals to help her plant the grain, and none of them are willing to do that.  After the wheat has grown it is time to harvest the grain, and again the Little Red Hen asks for volunteers to help her with this task, and again there is no willingness to help.  After the harvest the grain must be threshed to separate the chaff from the wheat and then of course the process of milling the wheat into flour.  An again at each phase no volunteers are forthcoming.  Finally the Red Hen is ready to bake the bread and one last time she invites the other farmyard animals to help and once again they say ‘No”. 

Finally, the Little Red Hen has finished baking the bread and asks, “Who will help me eat the bread?”  Unlike all of the other times, the farmyard animals are all willing to be eager volunteers.  But this time she declines the help and says that since they were not willing to help on the front end they wouldn’t be able to benefit in the end.  So she and her chicks ate all of the bread, leaving nothing for anyone else. 

As is mentioned in the wiki about this story, “the moral of this story is that those who show no willingness to contribute to a product do not deserve to enjoy the product.”  You have an opportunity to get in on the front end of the process of helping youth leaders to develop the skills they need to be a positive and effective role model and mentor for youth.  Join us at Entrusted Legacy by logging onto our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and making an investment in the future.  

Changing Lives

Do you remember the story of Amelia Bedelia?  This beloved character is nothing if she isn’t literal.  When she hears words she understands the literal meaning and then acts on it.  Amelia Bedilia goes to work for the Rogers family and when she arrives Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are out, but they leave he a long list of things to do.  This is a recap of the story from                    "Amelia Bedelia"

Before setting to work, Amelia bakes her employers a lemon meringue pie--she makes good pies. Then she sets to work.

"Change the towels in the bathroom," Mrs. Rogers has written in script. "Those towels are very nice. Why change them?" Amelia asks, but takes a pair of scissors to alter the towels' appearance as she is (kind of) told. Then she sets the towels back on their dowel and moves on down the list. She takes each task literally, from drawing the drapes on a sketchpad, to putting the lights out… out in the yard. When Mrs. Rogers comes home, she is very angry indeed. But naïve, endearing Amelia is proud of her work, holding up her picture of the curtains for Mrs. Rogers to see.” 

While this story is humorous, change seldom is.  Change, whether transitional (step by step) or transformational (creating something new and improved) causes stress. We are creatures of habit.  We tend to do the same things, in the same way, over and over.  You have an opportunity to help Entrusted Legacy an opportunity to make changes in the lives of youth and the role models and mentors that will support them.  It will require that you make some changes, but together, we can make a difference—one life at a time.  Join us in living Gandhi’s admonition to “Be the change you wish to see.” 

Check us out at www.entrustedlegacy.org or by emailing us at support@entrustedlegacy.org