What's The Purpose of a Baby Who Dies after 14 Minutes?

Last week in a Buffalo School, the Youth With A Purpose Relationship Mentoring Program examined homelessness. Homeless people ought to be treated with dignity. All human beings should have access to shelter, food and a bath. The students were told that every human being should be valued and that we were all created for a purpose.

This is a newspaper sold by homeless people. An epoch is a significant event in history. A discussion in a 7th Grade classroom about the death of a baby at 14 minutes old may well be the beginning of an Epoch in Buffalo.

A student in the 7th Grade asked this question: "If everybody was created for a purpose, what purpose does a baby serve when it dies 14 minutes after it is born?" That is a great question. Many people struggle with the issue of struggling through death. I told the student that I would answer and give him my opinion. I also told him that it was his job to formulate his own opinion. I was taught many years ago that a good teacher should present information in a way that encouraged the student to own their own knowledge.

My opinion is based on my faith. The subject of religion always comes up in discussions within the classroom. The students are told that all faith traditions are respected as well as those who did not believe in any particular religion. In most religions that I know about, people are urged to pray when something happens that hurts us. Someone experiencing pain is cause for prayer. I believe that God uses the occasion of prayer to turn people to Him. Sometimes the only occasion for turning to God is through adversity. It is my opinion that God uses adversity to turn us in His direction.

The physical act of lifting weights causes an adverse reaction in our muscles. As we lift and exercise, microscopic muscle tears appear in the fabric of our body. Brokenness must happen before we can grow new and stronger muscle. The heart is a muscle. The only way to be able to love more deeply is to have our hearts broken. Some people are created for this purpose. I believe that the death of a baby after only 14 minutes outside the womb is God's way of creating a spiritual weightlifting exercise. Death hurts, we can choose to pray and trust in God. The alternative is to remain broken and let scar tissue form instead of healing. This causes bitterness. Trust and pray is a better way that leads to healing.

That was the end of our discussion that day. By the silence at the end of the class, I believe that the students had a lot to ponder as they formulated their own opinions about the struggles of life. Our goal is to help students learn how to climb the emotional mountains of life.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Detention for the Mentor

Never in a million years would I ever imagine that I could get detention as a Relationship Mentor. I'm supposed to be a role model and an example for students to learn from. Now, I find myself looking at a sentence of detention. I will have to serve my time next week.

It has become my custom to wear the school uniform in solidarity with the students. Yesterday I walked in without my uniform. To start the class, I told the students that this was kind of like a "Free For All Day." That means that I do have some prepared material but their thoughts and questions would determine what we would talk about. One of the first questions was: "Where is your uniform?"

My infraction lead me to Detention in the Reflection Room. I feel a Rap Song coming on!

I told the students that I would be very transparent with them. I explained that I had a very busy day and I ran out of laundry detergent. I only have one uniform for each school except for School #3 (I have 2.) My uniform was in the washing machine and I assured them that I would have it next time. After I gave my explanation (which would be called an excuse if a child said this,) I paused and looked at the class. I could almost tell by the look on their faces that I was on shaky ground. I then asked them what would happen if they came to school without their uniform and gave that same excuse? Almost in unison they shouted: "We would get detention!"

I turned to the Teacher, Mr. Pegg who was smiling and said: "I guess you have to write me up for detention." He wrote me my Detention Slip and I will serve my Detention next week. I am looking forward to my penalty. Sometimes our lives become living lessons. We expect children to live up to the standards that we set while we are lackadaisical in following our own guidance. This creates hippocracy which is the door that opens to mistrust. Building trust requires "walking the talk."

Our class was filled with laughter, listening and learning. We talked about suicide, gangs, drugs, sexual abuse, bullying, poverty, water filters for people in Sierra Leone. Did you know that over 4,000 children die EVERYDAY from unsanitary conditions like lack of clean drinking water? We started with detention and went to clean water.

There is a cleansing action that

is created through transparency.

Building intimacy requires risk.

How much are we willing to risk

to help our children create a world

where trust is the flesh of the heart?

Admiring the Man in the Garbage

Some things in life stun us into a new reality. For some, items found in the garbage can be treasure. For others, the man in the garbage can reveal treasure. This story is about garbage and the revelation of treasure.

I left Buffalo School #6 after my first class. With an hour and a half until my next class, I always went downtown to grab a coffee. I pulled up to the corner of Delaware and Chippewa Streets and waited at the red-light. I glanced through the passenger side and saw a man going through the garbage can. I could tell he was looking for cans and bottles because of his partially filled bag at his side. As I stared, I was suddenly filled with admiration. I did a quick gut check - why the heck am I filled with admiration at the sight of a man in the garbage searching for cans and bottles?

When I finally realized why I felt admiration, it wasn't like a bolt out of the sky or anything. It was more like a slow seeping of wisdom settling in my soul; the man was taking an action. Let me put this another way; he wasn't going to a meeting to figure out what he had to do, he was taking action. That's exciting! In a City known for it's poverty, high unemployment and low high school graduation rate, this man was doing what needs to be done. He was taking action.

Urban Christian Ministries helps people take action.

I stopped and grabbed some coffee for myself and others and headed back to School #6. I was pumped! I felt like somebody had just handed me treasure. Back in the classroom, I mentioned to the class what happened. One of the students said that her Mom collects cans and bottles for her uncle to give to a homeless man. We began talking about how we could change the world. Some students said "give money" others said "help people." At the end of class a girl gave me a dime and said she wanted to help stop poverty. She said she lived in poverty and it wasn't fun. That girl gave what she had, she took an action. The students were fueling the fire of inspiration that had been ignited by the man in the garbage.

Young people from Breakout and Love Buffalo take action.

This story continues through our actions in the classroom which are still happening. I will write about the fruit of those actions in another article. One action leads to another action. Buffalo has been a city of inactivity for too many years. Many people have been meeting and talking, time is of the essence for some action. There are a lot of people have been taking some kind of action and they are a Bright Spot. One step at a time begins the journey and we need to take that step now. If everyone would just find one step of action to take that will bless another human being, everyone would be blessed. It just might start by giving somebody some cans and bottles to redeem. Maybe they might be redeemed. Maybe you might be redeemed. Maybe.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

If you have a "Millions Mindset" and you would like to become involved with Youth With A Purpose please contact us: ywapbuffalo@yahoo.com or 716-830-8240.