Being the Change

 

Bruce Hayes, coach, teacher, and mentor at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas, will long be remembered for challenging his students and athletes to “Be the change” in our world. 

Recently, the senior boy and girl soccer players, at Pleasanton High School in Pleasanton, Texas, took part in the jersey tradition.  Each player selected a teacher that had made an impact on their life.  Then, they took one of their jerseys, went to the teacher’s room, verbally expressed their gratitude for the difference they had made in their life, and gave the teacher their soccer jersey as a way to honor them.

 

Jason Smith is the principal of Stonybrook Intermediate and Middle School in Warren Township, Indiana.  An eighth grader was sent to his office for refusing to take his hat off in the classroom.  While talking, Smith found out that the student had recently had a haircut and he didn’t like the way he looked.  Principal Smith told the boy, “I’ve been cutting hair most of my life.  I played college basketball, cut my teammates’ hair before games, and I’ve been cutting my son’s hair for 17 years.”  He had professional clippers and edgers at home.  Smith asked the student, “If I go home and get my clippers and line you up, will you go back to class?”  The student assured him he would.  Smith knows how important it is for a junior high student to take pride in how they look and to be self-confident.  “We’re not disciplining with a hard fist.  You could call and have the parent pick up the kid for defiance.  Or you can sit and get to the root of the problem and see what can I do to help you?  What do you need right now?”

 

In every movie Robin Williams filmed, he had the production company hire a minimum of 10 homeless people for each movie.  During his career, around 1,520 homeless people were hired and helped.

 

Mike Krzyzewski coached the Duke Blue Devils’ men’s basketball team 42 years, retiring in 2022.  Before the March Madness NCAA Tournament, he met with the players and coaches and gave each a basketball and a Sharpie marker.  As a visual reminder, Coach K instructed them to write the names of the people who had helped, encouraged, and mentored them through the years.  In the days following, Coach Krzyzewski noticed the players carrying the balls with them.  What an impact, on players and coaches alike, as the men remembered, with gratitude, those who invested in and made a difference in their life.

 

May we, too, accept the challenge to be the change.

 

 

‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3;12, 14