We Didn't Start the Fire

When I was in fifth or sixth grade, my social studies teacher did a class project. He took the lyrics from Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire and each student had to write a report on their lyric. If you aren't familiar with the song, YouTube it. It is littered with history that soon will be forgotten by the next generation. I still haven't forgotten this project and I think of it often. It made me truly appreciate how impressionable children in that age group are. How easily they can be influenced. How right then, in that moment, so much of what will become them is stirring to life. If you look close enough you can even see it.

Currently I am a writer in corporate America. I can't complain. I like what I do and it gets the job done. But reflecting on where my heart pulls and ultimately the things I would like to do, the following idea spilled into an ordinary conversation about how the world would be a whole lot better if we all committed to making it that way.

There is a joke out there, goes like this..."A truck driver was driving his truck and got stuck under an overpass. He was wedged in there so tightly he couldn't get the truck out. For hours the traffic backed up as drivers, police officers, even engineers stood staring at the unmovable truck. Just when they were ready to sliced the top of the truck off in order to get it out, a little boy of about 9 came over with his father. The little boy looked and said curiously, "Why don't you just let the air out of the tires to make it sink down enough to get out." Everyone stopped talking, looked at the boy, then the truck. And within minutes the truck was freed and traffic back on track."

I love that story. It reminds me that whenever I think something is complicated, it is more than likely my adult mind making it that way. The true importance of that story is that kids have great ideas, and sometimes they never get to say them, and other times they just aren't given the freedom to come up with the idea.

I think I realized today that  I want to give them that freedom and encouragement. I'd like to design a class lesson that stretches a quarter and aims at educating on an issue in our community, state, country or even world that needs to be fixed. I want to ask kids, how would you fix this or solve this or work to encourage people to ban together to do so? I want to help kids bring concepts to reality and make an impactful difference in the world we all live in. 
We all have a commitment to reach outside ourselves and into our community. We have become a selfish world and we need to become unselfish through gifts of sharing not just in the problems but in the solutions. We should all be committed to leaving a positive footprint for generations to follow. The is significant value in helping in our community and our country and our world.
Many small ideas spread into worldwide efforts  that were successful in creating a better tomorrow. (Think Wallets for Water and Tom's Shoes). I bet that the people who are now at the top of those non-profits all started with just one idea, and probably a basement somewhere.

It's time to leave a footprint. My question is will you leave one worth following?