On April 21, 2007 PILR along with students from Nickerson High School, with and without disabilities, completed a global youth service project by planting 5 trees in Harsha Park in Hutchinson.
PILR WANTS TO RECOGNIZE the following people who were members of the steering committee that planned this event: Brad Swaim, Allen Reed, Amanda Capps, Michael Stahl, Tyrell Cregger, Devon Sons, Matthew Hoover, Jim Hoover, Chrisi Billinger and Roger Frischenmeyer. We would also like to thank Don Sons for drawing the picture which was used on our posters and our shirts.
"We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and a small group of determined people can change the course of history." ~ Sonya Johnson
Read the Global Make a Difference Day article in our June 2007 Newsletter.
The following is the speech given by Carlota Ponds at the tree planting ceremony on April 21, 2007:
There are six words that have had a great influence on my life: “it’s impossible,” “you can’t” and “watch me.” When my mother got pregnant at age 38…with only half a kidney and after 7 prior failed pregnancies…people told her, “It’s impossible. You can’t carry a baby to full term. It will never be born. It’s gonna die just like the rest. And it might kill YOU too!”
They were almost right. We were in labor for three days and I came out scrawny and wrinkled and purple. I looked like a prune. Mom got to go home after about 10 days, but I spent the first six weeks of my life in an incubator. The doctors all said, “She’ll never walk, never talk, be severely ‘mentally retarded’ [that’s the phrase they used back in the 60’s] and probably die before she turns five. What a deal! I hadn’t even been around 2 months yet and people were already telling me what I couldn’t do!
But my mother, God love her, didn’t listen to their predictions. When they finally released me from the hospital, she took me straight to the church…even before she took me home. She laid me on the altar and gave me back to God. “You gave her to me,” she prayed “and I’m giving her back to You. They say she’s broken, but I know You don’t make mistakes, so You fix her. You make her what You want her to be. And tell me what to do to help.”
From then on, “watch me” became my mantra. Whenever some professional somebody or another said “you can’t” my mom helped me find a way to say, “Watch me!”
They said I’d never attend a “regular” school, so mom taught me to read and do basic math when I was preschool age by playing scrabble, dominoes and cards. “Watch me!”
They said I couldn’t take swim lessons because I might have a seizure in the water. Mom overcame her paralyzing fear of the water and took lessons too…the only way they’d allow me in the pool. Not only did I learn to swim, I became a competition swimmer winning ribbons, medals and trophies all over Los Angeles County. “Watch me!”
It was the same throughout my teen years: “you can’t learn to drive”… “watch me!” “You’ll never graduate high school” … “watch me!” “Yeah, but you’ll never go to college” … “watch me!”
One of the things that helped me overcome people’s low expectations of me was something my mom did shortly after we moved to California. She took me around to all the major buildings and places in L.A., put my hands on them and told me they were mine. “This is your library…yours to use, yours to take care of, and yours to make better.” The same with the police station, the beach, local parks, City Hall, churches, schools, hospitals and anything else of value in our neighborhood. They were all mine…to use, to take care of, and to make better.
That’s how I learned about community service. My “watch me!” attitude carried over into my community service. Cleaning up parks, painting over gang graffiti on school buildings, in 8th grade, I even petitioned the school board to change a dress code policy I thought was unfair…and they did. “Watch me!”
It isn’t as evident now that I’m an adult (notice I didn’t say, “grown up”!) but I still carry that “watch me!” spirit from my childhood. And I still use it in community service. But I don’t expect everyone to be like me. My background gave me some special challenges that helped me be the kind of person I am. God used those challenges to get me ready for what I was supposed to do in life. Likewise, your life has given you different challenges to help you be the person you are. And God will use those challenges to get you ready for the role you are to play.
In a way, we’re all like the puzzle pieces I handed out at the beginning of this talk. Each piece is shaped differently and goes in a different place in the puzzle. If we don’t do the special things we’ve been put here to do…the puzzle of our community will never be complete. No one else has our same gifts or talents. No one else can do what we’ve been put here to do. Some of us are peacemakers while others rock the boat. Some are detail-oriented while others see the big picture. Some have a special gift to work with children, or flowers, or money. Some can plan and organize meetings (or give inspiring speeches!) or make strangers feel welcome. Each of us comes with special gifts and talents. Each of us has a special job to do. And no one else can do your part. If you don’t do it…your community puzzle will be incomplete.
I’m going to close with a prayer-poem from a book called Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder. He’s not talking about the “big monkey” type of gorilla you see in a zoo. He’s talking about guerrillas, small bands of warriors who are passionate for their cause, whatever it is, and are willing to use non-traditional means to reach their goal(s). The gifts and talents you have may be considered “non-traditional” when compared to the mainstream approach. They may even seem boring to you when compared with other more flashy personalities. You may want a different set of gifts…but it’s no accident that you have exactly the set of strengths and challenge areas you do. I wanted to be dainty and quiet and ladylike…but God made me loud and a little bit sand-papery. He designed you the way you are on purpose, to steer you toward your true calling and away from other, worthy, distractions. As an illustration, this poem makes that point more artfully and gracefully than I ever could.
THIS PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY AN ABLE TO SERVE GRANT
FROM THE BUBEL AIKEN FOUNDATION
www.bubelaiken.org
www.ysa.org
www.pilr org ¦ | info@pilr.org ¦ | 17 South Main Street Hutchinson, KS 67501 