LIFE LESSONS FOR '2010' FROM AN ICE SKATING 6 YR OLD - 'IT'S OKAY TO FALL'

  First I want to thank you all for taking your time to read my entries despite the many grammatical errors and my non formal way of writing.  I have a 10 hour job working with youth age 5-18 at a neighborhood center in Portland Maine.   during this winter break we did something different with each group we went to the movies with one group to see Alvin and the chipmonks, we had a non-formal hot chcolate social with another and today we went Ice skating with the  youngest group, an elementary and some middle school kids. I was late so my supervisor went with the kids and I took the bus to caught up with them. By the time I got there they were already skating so I went and collected a pair of skating shoes ,put them on and just when I was ready to go every one was asked to go  on a break so the arena can be cleaned that was when My heart beat went fast and I look at my supervisor on the face and said I don't know how to skate and he said, 'we should have had this conversation before coming here'.( I am in trouble). I said I think I can  help. when the arena was cleared he went back in with the kids and asked me to wait for two others who were in the bathroom.
   Now there is this  6 year old that doesn't know how to skate lets call her 'N'.  When N came out of the bathroom, I was standing there contemplating if I should  go into the ice rink or just wait, she walked up to me and look at me and said , 'Pious can you hold my hand so we can skate ?' I responded and said 'am, eem I am waiting here ' N said, no come with me I am scare,

                                              ME: I am scared too
                                              N:Scared of what you are an adult ( her trust in me)
                                              ME: I don't know how to skate, I am scared I might fall
 N look at me with a smile on her face and  said 'Its okay to fall Pious'. with that at the back of her mind she entere the rink and started skating she fell and fell but kept getting up and continued skating despite her imperfection. At the end of the day when I asked her how was her day she said' My body hurt but I had fun' I on the other hand let my fear of falling stopped me from having fun that afternoon and as we were walking in the snow back to the center I kept hearing her little voice saying to me, 'its okay to fall Pious' .... and I said to myself yes its okay to fall N.
  As the year comes to an end and we are entering into another  year and a decade,   Happy New Year to you and your loved ones and please remember that 'its okay to fall'...

Quote of the day:

“It's not how many times you fall that matters, it's how many time you get back up

  

A LONG COLD NIGHT & AWAY FROM HOME !!!

Last night, Monday December 21st, 2009, was the longest night of the year and probably the coldest to many people around our  dear Country, from one State to another. Here in Portland  Maine, The Preble Street  Resource Center celebrates this night by organizing a vigil to raise awareness and create empathy on issues affecting our homeless people. I think homelessness is one of the issues that is hard to analyze because of its many causes, but irrespective of how a person ends up being homeless, as an act of kindness, we as a community need to  help our fellow humans who unfortunately happened to become Homeless, especially if they are Teenagers.
 Homeless  Teenagers in most cases don't play any role on how they end up on the streets. They are victims of circumstances or decisions beyond their control and yet, sometimes we treat them as if they had a choice and they chose to be on the streets.  I think homelessness is not  just a political issue but  a moral one as well and, we should just treat it as such. Let us join hands together  to fight it as we do with racism, sexism and many other social issues we have in our communities.

Please, I will invite you to join me and the Youth  of the Maine Interfaith Youth Alliance when we start our year long Campaign to raise awareness on Teen homelessness in Maine. you don't have to be in Maine to support our efforts, you and  your friends can help us in many ways to combat  Teen homelessness and Juvenal Social Justice.  I will send you the links to the web site in January. As you are celebrating during this holidays please remember how blessed you are and also think of those who are not that fortunate and share some of the glory with them.

Quote of the day:
"Shelters and soup kitchens are not the answer, Collectively, we need to develop a more thoughtful and humane response to homelessness."
Mark Swann, Preble Street's Director,