Hello Steve, it really shows what some one can do when given half a
chance and also credit for what they did. I like this one. thanks
for sharing.
Original message:
Broken Wing
Some people are just doomed to be failures. That's the way some adults
look at troubled kids. Maybe you've heard the saying, A bird with a
broken wing will never fly as high. I'm sure that T. J. Ware was made
to feel that way almost every day in school.
By high school, T. J. was the most celebrated troublemaker in his town.
Teachers literally cringed when they saw his name posted on their
classroom lists for the next semester. He wasn't very talkative, didn't
answer questions and got into a lot of fights. He had flunked almost
every class by the time he entered his senior year, yet was being
passed on each year to a higher grade level. Teachers didn't want to
have him again the following year.
T. J. was moving on, but definitely not moving up. I met T. J. for the
first time at a weekend leadership retreat. All the students at school
had been invited to sign up for ACE training, a program designed to
have students become more involved in their communities. T. J. was one
of 405 students who signed up. When I showed up to lead their first
retreat, the community leaders gave me this overview of the attending
students: We have a total spectrum represented today, from the student
body president to T. J. Ware, the boy with the longest arrest record in
the history of town.
Somehow, I knew I wasn't the first to hear about T. J.'s darker side as
the first words of introduction.
At the start of the retreat, T. J. was literally standing outside the
circle of students, against the back wall, with that go ahead, impress
me look on his face. He didn't readily join the discussion groups. He
didn't seem to have much to say, but slowly, the interactive games drew
him in. The ice really melted when the groups started building a list
of positive and negative things that had occurred at school that year.
T. J. had some definite thoughts on those situations. The other
students in T. J.'s group welcomed his comments. All of a sudden, T. J.
felt like a part of the group, and before long, he was being treated
like a leader. He was saying things that made a lot of sense, and
everyone was listening. T. J. was a smart guy and he had some great ideas.
The next day, T. J. was very active in all the sessions. By the end of
the retreat, he had joined the Homeless Project team. He knew something
about poverty, hunger and hopelessness. The other students on the team
were impressed with his passionate concern and ideas. They elected T.
J. co-chairman of the team. The student council president would be
taking his instruction from T. J. Ware.
When T. J. showed up at school on Monday morning, he arrived to a
firestorm. A group of teachers were protesting to the school principal
about his being elected co-chairman.
The very first community wide service project was to be a giant food
drive, organized by the Homeless Project team. The teachers couldn't
believe the principal would allow this crucial beginning to a
prestigious, three-year action plan to stay in the incapable hands of
T. J. Ware.
They reminded the principal, He has an arrest record as long as your
arm. He'll probably steal half the food. Mr. Coggshall reminded them
that the purpose of the ACE program was to uncover any positive passion
a student had and reinforce its practice until true change can take
place. The teachers left the meeting shaking their heads in disgust,
firmly convinced that failure was imminent.
Two weeks later, T. J. and his friends led a group of 70 students in a
drive to collect food. They collected a school record: 2,854 cans of
food in just two hours. It was enough to fill the empty shelves in two
neighborhood centers, and the food took care of needy families in the
area for 75 days. The local newspaper covered the event with a
full-page article the next day. That newspaper story was posted on the
main bulletin board at school, where everyone could see it.
T. J.'s picture was up there for doing something great, for leading a
record-setting food drive. Everyday, he was reminded about what he did.
He was being acknowledged as leadership material. T. J. started showing
up at school everyday and answered questions from teachers for the
first time. He led a second project, collecting 300 blankets and 1,000
pairs of shoes for the homeless shelter. The event he started now
yields 9,000 cans of food in one day, taking care of 70 percent of the
need for food for one year.
T. J. reminds us that a bird with a broken wing only needs mending. But
once it has healed, it can fly higher than the rest. T. J. got a job.
He became productive. He's flying quite nicely these days.
A single candle can illuminate an entire room. A true friend lights up
an entire
