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Taking action in 2018 can make a real difference

Happy new year, kind readers!

When you set out to write a column that will appear in the first week of January, it is tempting to follow the lead of others and offer tips and strategies for the new year. That’s what I intended to do. I planned to suggest some literacy-based practices for your consideration — that was until I heard about a remarkable young lady named Natalie Hampton.

Natalie’s story, while new to me, first made headlines in September 2016. Fortunately for me, and hopefully for you as well, I learned about her while watching a segment of Thursday’s CBS “This Morning” (available online).

I hope you will take the time to learn about her journey. It started when she was in seventh grade, a lonely and severely bullied girl, and continues today as she, while only a high school senior, is a CEO of a successful non-profit. She has been honored by several organizations including receiving the Outstanding Youth Delegate Award from the United Nations.

SIT WITH US

Why am I writing about her? Because she acted on something that she cared about. She was bullied for over a year, finally escaping by enrolling in a different school. On her first day at her new school, a student asked if she needed help finding her next class. That simple act of kindness by one teenager inspired Natalie to create Sit With Us — a mobile app designed to promote a kinder and more inclusive school community. (http://sitwithus.io/) The app has over 100,000 users in eight countries.

Her story, while significant, is thankfully not unique. She is one of many change agents whose willingness to act makes our world better, and in this case, a world that is safer for marginalized children.

My story, or rather my effort to inspire you into action, is also not unique. John Kennedy did the same when he said, “And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him… We need not wait to see what others do.”

By the way, this quote is thought to be what has been misquoted as “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

My sincere wish for 2018 is that we all find ways to act on what is important to us and to our community. In my case, that means promoting literacy. It means encouraging readers to support each other as well as non-readers. It means providing resources to those who need it most or supporting others in our community who do it for us. It means making a difference that makes us different.

John Wooden once said, “… your greatest joy definitely comes from doing something for another, especially when it was done with no thought of something in return.”

How will you make a difference? What will you act on? Share your story by writing me at kathy@stonesoupliteracy.com.

——

Kathy Gephart is a retired public school educator and the founder of Stone Soup Literacy (www.stonesoupliteracy.com) whose mission is to build readers, one community at a time. Email Kathy at stonesoupliteracy@gmail.com.

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