People Really Do Care
I’ve been struck this week by a couple of situations that give me a little hope for the future. I appreciated the reminder that most people are basically good. These days, we’re seeing a lot of people’s COVID Crazy and it has the potential to make someone such as me lose a little faith in humanity. How can I accept that some people are just inherently bad? I cannot, but it’s hard to understand their behavior for sure.
Comes now the opportunity for hope!
As you likely know, the PC Foundation started a program called CAST (Community and Schools Together) a few months ago. The virus interrupted our flow, but we finally hosted our first Steering Committee meeting this week. The team includes people from various community service organizations, juvenile affairs, government officials, teachers, retired teachers, and religious organizations. We discussed the current needs requests from our PCHS feeder pattern and how we could fill those. It was evident from introductions that these people genuinely care about kids. I was so touched by their dedication to helping, the sense of urgency displayed, that I almost lost my composure!
This satisfying conversation was followed by another with leaders from the Assistance League of OKC. The group wanted to explore partnership options to benefit Putnam City Schools’ children. These people came to me out of their keen desire to help children. They were palpably aware of how difficult the virus has been on kids who already struggle for various reasons.
So yes, I do feel better than I did about the general state of humanity. Though I see alternately people who vociferously divide us and people who ignore the solvable problems evident to all those around them, I feel it is possible that things will be better for our students. And that’s why I am here, so I’ll choose hope again.
by Jennifer Seal
October 15, 2020