Like educators everywhere, I have wrestled for the past two weeks with what we can teach our students after the tragic Boston Marathon bombings. Beyond the immediate lessons about safety and geography, such as being able to locate Dagestan and Chechnya on a map, what can our students take away that will inform and guide them in these difficult and frightening times? Perhaps one of the most important lessons comes from the soft-spoken, argyle-sporting sage from our childhood, Mr. Rogers. This wise man once said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”
At our morning meetings this past week, I shared three different but equally meaningful stories that I had heard about the role of helpers in our world today. The first involved punk rock singer-songwriter, Patti Smith. In a recent episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show, “Writers and Company” with Eleanor Wachtel, Smith told a story about the time in her life following her husband’s and brother’s deaths within months of each other in 1994. "I was so exhausted," Smith said. “Basically, all I could do was get my kids ready for school. Part of it maybe was grief. But part of it was physical. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't write. I couldn't draw. And I was miserable not doing anything.”
She got help from unexpected places. On the Valentine's Day after her husband's death, she was sitting alone after putting her two children to bed. “And the phone rang. And I answered and this voice says, 'Hello, you don't know me. But my name's Michael Stipe.' And I knew who Michael Stipe was because I loved his music. I loved REM. And he told me that he was in Barcelona, and that he knew we didn't know each other, but he knew that I had lost - sorry - that I had lost my love, and that it was probably my first Valentine's Day without him in a long time. And that he called to ask if he could be my valentine. “That was how I met Michael Stipe over the phone, through a beautiful gesture. And I hung up the phone and I felt really happy. I did. I went to bed happy!"
The second story involved the YouTube violinist phenomenon Lindsey Stirling and her recent trip to Germany. Stirling is perhaps the first – and only – artist in the world to blend classical violin, modern dance, and…a videogame, “The Legend of Zelda.” Stirling said, “I walked to the Berlin Wall two days ago, and it was an extremely humbling experience. Once a prison-like barrier that suffocated people under communist rule, it now has gaps and walkways for people to leisurely pass through at their will, and it is covered in a patchwork of colorful art. When the wall was taken down, artists from all over the world were invited to paint on the wall. What was once the ultimate symbol of oppression is now a monument of freedom. It stands to remind everyone that freedom is a blessing. Freedom is not, and never will be free. It requires sacrifice and faith in the goodness of humanity. And THAT we should never take it for granted. One artist painted a quote on the wall that rang true to me. It said: ‘Many small people, in many small places, do many small things that can alter the face of the world.’”
The final story comes from NPR’s Eliza Barclay, who interviewed John Rippo, publisher and editor of “Espresso,” a San Diego newspaper for “café society.” She wrote, “For 16 years, Rippo has been writing vignettes about fleeting moments inside San Diego’s many coffeehouses. Most of the vignettes are humorous; some are poignant.” Rippo told the following story:
“I walked into the Cafe Italia one afternoon and saw a man sitting at an outside table. He was wrapped in a blue wool overcoat and he was writing a letter. And as I walked by, I saw that he had a revolver in his lap. So I went inside, I ordered a pair of espressos, went back to his table, sat down and asked him who he was going to shoot. And his reply was that he had no money and he was writing a suicide note. So, I had just been paid from an advertiser in cash and I offered to buy his revolver. I like guns, I collect them and he had a very rare gun in his lap. So I offered to buy his gun and part of the deal was that I got to take him to the railroad station and call his daughter who was in L.A. She was very happy to hear from her dear old dad and couldn't wait to see him. So, in exchange for his gun, I bought him a railroad ticket and something to eat and gave him an espresso and sent him on his way. The Webley Mark VI revolver is now a paperweight on my desk.”
All of our Bosque students are involved in service learning programs, so they are accustomed to aiding others in their classes, in their extra-curricular activities, and in the community. My goal was to show them that in times of trauma, like the Boston Marathon bombings, or in our ordinary daily experiences, like meeting someone in a coffee shop, there are people out there making a huge difference in the lives of others with gestures both large and small. I hope that they will find ways that they can play that role as well and that one day, they will be the helpers to whom others will point as an example.
