Tuesday, December 16, 2008

You can't rescue people

All three of my dogs are 'rescues'. Darwin came from a breed rescue group. Tesla came from a Walmart parking lot. Libby came from a Girl Scout camp. They have it pretty good at my house. But Libby keeps digging out of the yard to go adventuring. We live a 1/2 block from Highway 31, so this is a dangerous habit. The other day I found her more than a mile away, wet and hungry. Sunday we got a call that she was 3 miles south on Hwy 119. When I arrived at the Boy Scout tree lot to fetch her, she was in hog heaven. They had fed her pizza and cookies and given her tons of love and attention. She got in the car like a movie star entering a limo, not realizing in her doggy brain how very lucky she was to have people who cared about her at both ends of her journey.


I've come to realize that you can't rescue people. They have to do it themselves. All you can do is provide the opportunities. If they choose not to take advantage of those opportunities, no amount of persuasion or hand-wringing will change that. Scrollworks is an opportunity for so many on so many different levels: a chance to learn, a chance to play, a chance to teach, a chance to give. I celebrate those who take what we offer and give it back a thousand fold. I regret with all my heart not offering enough to those who turn away.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well stated! It breaks my heart to see music students fail due to lack of parental support or due to their own lack of vision.

Jeane Goforth said...

It will be one of our challenges to help children succeed when there is no hope of parental support--and when survival takes precedence over vision.