Our middle school students participated in the Friday climate strike by making signs and walking out to join other area students in a march on Bainbridge Island. This important action speaks to these students, as they are newly developing their capacities for looking outward into the world to wonder about their place and purpose and beginning to think critically. And, its inspiring to see so many young leaders in the climate action movement — people like Greta Thunberg, and Autumn Peltier to name just a couple — all examples of how one person can make a difference.
Deborah Newlen, our head of school, highlighted this in this week’s school newsletter, writing:
The Difference of One: Most of us go through large portions of our daily lives not paying full attention to all the things we do (or don't) and the impacts those acts or their omission have on others and the world around us. This is not an accusation; it is a statement of fact. It is not always a willful ignoring; it is often the case that the human mind pays attention to only one thing at a time. And life has a way of firing things at us in such rapid succession that reflection time can seem unavailable.
But occasionally, it is good to take stock, to make an inventory, of actions offered and actions received, to try to hold in mind the difference one makes. It is not about thinking that if we did a particular thing we could make a difference. It is realizing that we are making a difference all the time with each thought, and word and deed.
Working in a Waldorf school regularly reminds me of this, because the way teachers bring humanities and the sciences to our students always begins with bringing striking biographies of human beings making a difference in their fields, often with major significance for the course of human life.
This past week, our own middle schoolers ventured out to the corner of Winslow and Madison inspired to join the international youth climate action now occurring around the world inspired by a Swedish teenager named Greta Thunberg. This young Swede is a remarkable illustration of the difference one makes. I am excited for our middle schoolers and teenagers everywhere that someone their own age has gained a voice on the world stage in an important conversation. I can not imagine a more powerful signal to a young person that a young person's actions matter than to see that playing out in the so called 'adult world'.
I find Great Thunberg and working here at Madrona school inspiring for many of the same reasons. And wherever the reminder comes from:
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person. ” ― R. Buckminster Fuller
