We Should Help Those That Want to Help Themselves.

The title of this article may have you thinking,” Hey, she just misquoted a bible verse.” It may surprise some and delight others to know that this popular quote did not originate in the bible. I guess that goes to show that we can learn something new every day, but more to the point, the title indicates the lesson I learned when I was 14 years old. In many ways, I was not a typical teenager. I wasn’t obsessed with popularity. I wasn’t trying to go to the games or waste my time hanging out at the mall when I didn’t have any money. I was an introvert and extremely practical, much like I am as an adult, but the two things that I was missing, which falls in line with just about every teenager who’s ever lived, were patience and grace. One day in civics class changed all that for me. As I said, I was fourteen and a sophomore in high school. This particular morning our teacher was making us read over the chapter out loud. At that age, I often wondered what the point of that activity was. I figured it was the teacher’s way of getting out of having to actually teach. But nevertheless, we were reading out loud, but instead of going through each student one at a time, our teacher was asking for volunteers. After a few students volunteered and read their portion aloud, a Black girl sitting in the row next to me, raised her hand, and the teacher called her name. Her name was Kokita. I remember her name and her face vividly, because she stood out. She was a sophomore like the rest of us, but she was five feet tall. <a href="https://sidraowens.medium.com/we-should-help-those-that-want-to-help-themselves-91c56426ab54">Website</a>