Reflection

From the manse window

WHAT is the best present you’ve ever been given? Many people’s first response will be to think of the abstract gifts of life, such as good health, happy relationships and loving friends and families.

We can throw more into the mix, such as the gift of interesting jobs or hobbies, or being able to live in an area we like.

We might come up with more fleeting gifts, such as a hug when it was needed, or an encouraging word given at the right time.

But I’m thinking about more tangible presents.

Could it be that bicycle you were given for Christmas? Or the watch presented to you on your coming-of-age?

Of one thing I’m sure: the gift that meant the most to you wasn’t a pencil.

Yet that is exactly what one young Indian beggar requested when a kind tourist stopped to ask what he most wanted.

It was a turning point for that tourist, an American named Adam Braun. The sheer unexpectedness of the boy’s request puzzled him.

However, he didn’t take long to realise the answer. In a developing country, a pencil is the first step on the road towards getting an education.

A pencil is a basic implement of learning, and the facilitator which allows a child to grow into a self-sufficient adult in his or her society.

The boy was given his pencil, but Braun found that he, too, was given a gift – of enlightenment.

Though still a young man himself, he loved travelling and, after that experience, made a point of taking pencils everywhere he went, handing them out to anyone who was in need.

He soon saw that it was not enough. If education was needed, schools had to be built. And if schools had to be built, money must be found to build them.

Thus it was that 2008 saw the start of a new charity, Pencils Of Promise, and it’s already rewriting the future of impoverished children.

The charity has grown large enough to carry out global learning courses, and has worked with communities to build over 500 schools.

They employ and support local teachers, have introduced hygiene and sanitation programmes, and have helped improve the lives of over 100,000 students. And all down to one pencil!

Hearing of that example brought home to me the fact that when we give something, it doesn’t have to be big or expensive in order to make a difference.

We may have no money to spare, but we can show people we care about them.

We can take the time to listen to someone’s problems, we can invite someone for a cuppa to show we’re thinking of them, we can pick up a phone to ring a friend, or take a moment to smile at a stranger.

Who knows where a little kindness can lead? ■

Next week: Janice Ross reflects on self pity.