We had a diversity PD day this week with illustrator E.B. Lewis as one of the speakers. He told some stories about his early life and struggles in school. A couple of things really stood out to me. First was his statement, “My trademark is hugging.” There is someone hugging in every one of his books.

The emphasis of his whole talk was on caring. He told a story of speaking at a middle school assembly of around 400 students. He asked the students at the beginning of his talk if they cared. He said that only about 50 students raised their hands. He went on to explain what he meant about caring and having a purpose in life. He asked again and had the same hands. Unfortunately he did not share what the rest of his speech was about but based on what he shared with us I would assume it was his life story.

At the end of his speaking to the students he asked again, “Do you care?” Everyone that he could see raised their hand. Then he made the statement that really hit home with me:

“Hopefully, I saved a life that day.”

Think about the power of that for a minute. Saving a life. He was only there one day. We get students for a whole year. We have a great opportunity in front of us every day.

I feel very good about my #1 goal for the year: love students.