I don't have any nice pictures of the teenagers who inspired this post, because I saw them on Shabbos walking home from Shul and my handy, dandy camera was tucked neatly away in the drawer getting a much deserved rest.
There is a Church next to our Shul on a road with many Churches, sort of a spiritual street in a sense but very busy. They have what seems to be a great youth ministry there as they are always working on some project or another, often on Saturday and I notice them on my way to Shul in the morning. They are always having a Bake Sale for some cause or a Rummage Sale or holiday project so it's not an uncommon sight to see them holding up signs with an arrow or some such direction pointing into the driveway which is somewhat hidden by the curve of the street.
This past week they caught my eye on the way home from Shul. There were at least 20 teenagers standing with signs trying to catch motorists attention. It looked more like a Pep Rally than anything else. They were jumping up and down, trying to catch attention it seems of motorists speeding by on their way somewhere else. I thought to myself with a smile, what dedicated kids they are trying to hard to be noticed.
As I got closer the signs read variations on, "Honk to Stop World Hunger!!" "Stop World Hunger Today, Honk!!" I was surprised, I thought for sure they were selling something.... and seriously how can honking stop world hunger I pondered? My second thought was what a wonderful group of kids who are giving their time to a cause rather than doing something superficial or meaningless. But, no one was honking and it seemed sort of sad.
Suddenly, one young man started to hop up and down ferociously... he looked almost like a Jumping Jack. I didn't know guys could jump so high, maybe he does gymnastics... then the cute blond in a sweat shirt and jeans starting jumping, so did the funky looking boy with a mass of red hair. And, suddenly someone honked. And, then.... another person honked. The more the cars began to honk the more the kids began to jump about, excited that people were beginning to notice and the more they jumped and pointed to their signs the more cars honked. And, I smiled and giggled a bit thinking of all the causes I was involved in when their age in high school and how we really did feel we could change the world at that age. If we could only bottle that energy and sell it to all the burned out souls who have given up and don't believe that one person with a sign can make a difference, let alone twenty.
As I passed through the crowd I smiled and noticed the only one not jumping was an older, tall, thin man in a gray jacket smiling quietly, knowingly. He was obviously their Group Leader, he had this look of satisfaction that only comes from seeing a plan come together. I smiled a "good work" smile and he nodded back.
As I watched the cars honking, here and there I thought "so now what?"
And, then I thought on how many people may go home and give charity to their favorite cause or bread bank or donate their extra clothes to Good Will. I wonder how many of those drivers might google "stop world hunger" into their browsers and think on a way for their Church or Synagogue group to do a project of their own. Who knows? The seed has been planted in some one's brain and if only a few of those people passing by and honking do something it will still be better than if no one had seen the signs. And, if the first person who honked who immediately forgot all about it after entering the high way a mile or two down the road did nothing but honked, he may have inspired the guy who honked behind him to go home and donate a lot of money before April 15th to some group he might not have donated to earlier.
With the Chaos Theory in play, one of those kids may go on to do great things to help feed the world or stop starvation. Or a small child in the back seat of her parents car staring back at the teens may think on what it will be like to be a teen like them and trying to help others in the big world. They may ask their parents if they are going to do something to Stop World Hunger. Hey, they inspired me to write this blog entry and how many people will read this post and think on doing something. And, lastly I remembered my older daughters holding my youngest babies as I stood with friends outside of a grocery store while my friends and I handed out pamphlets on Lighting Shabbos Candles.
My son quoted Margaret Mead to me the other day in passing and I am going to pass along the quote here as it definitely applies to this and to many other things.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has"
I've often been asked if I think singing a specific song really makes a difference or if holding a yellow flag makes a difference?
I think so. How many Jewish kids or any kids listening to Matisyahu rapping wondered what he was talking about when he sings about Crown Heights and the lyrics "and I sing to my God songs of love and healing and I want Moshiach Now!!" wonder, "whoah, what's Moshiach???" You don't have to learn a new language to understand there is a purpose behind this specific song that was most likely his most popular song. How many CDs did that song sell? How many times was it downloaded on ITunes? How many times was it passed to a friend or heard in a car driving by a street corner with a bunch of kids holding up signs asking people to "Honk to Stop World Hunger?" Could have happened, the rock station up here plays Matisyahu a lot and he performs regularly at the local college... as a matter of fact he has davened in the Shul where I daven so it is totally possible that could have happened. Who knows??
What I do know is that my son is right to quote Margaret Mead and NEVER should a Chabad Shaliach or any Chabanik use that overused phrase I have heard way too many times combined with a tired shrug. "It is what it is" because that is not an acceptable answer.
When Chassidim come to a wall...they don't give up and go "wow, look at that wall! Oh well, it is what it is, let's go home, at least we kinda tried." They jump over the wall...they find a way. "It is what it is" is not something that was a part of the Rebbe's thought process, almost unimaginable to even think a Chabadnik would say it and yet I have had more than a few shrug their shoulders and look tired and burned out.
Luckily, I get inspired by kids with signs and signs in the local bank at the start of winter asking people to drop off their old coats and sweaters to the homeless. A woman at Weight Watchers is attending a class on food consumption at a college here, she went home and looked through her cabinets at all of the processed food she spontaneously bought at the market that she doesn't really want to eat as it's not in her food guidelines and boxed it up and took it down the block and across the street to a local park where the Homeless live and she left it there with a hand scribbled sign that read, "Please Take and Enjoy!"
What difference can a sign make??
A lot of difference in my book.
What difference can a song make??
Probably even more as songs are passed around today the way baseball cards and love notes were when I was in High School.
Enjoy the music and try to live more in accordance with the message of the song and do Acts of Goodness and Kindness and you can never go wrong!
Sometimes, not only do you have to stop to smell the roses, you have to slow down and honk and go home and give some charity and pass along the message and the mitzvah!
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