Thank you, Laura.
Are you like Laura?
Yesterday when I went to pick up my child at school, she was not at her usual spot.
I scanned my eyes over the crowd of children.
I could not see my child. In my mind, I said, “Where is she?”
Soon, I started saying it aloud.
Laura steps in.
I am not related to Laura. We are not close friends.
I know her from around town, and we have become acquaintances.
We have some things in common, including that our children attend the same school.
Maybe one day, we will be close friends, but right now, we are in the acquaintance zone.
When Laura noticed I was looking for my baby girl, she immediately stepped in.
“Where is she?” I asked the substitute. The substitute told me, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the kids. Maybe check the front office.”
My daughter is five. If she is not where she needs to be at dismissal, mama cannot help but get slightly into a panic. It is a large school, and she can be anywhere.
Laura jumped into action. She has been a parent longer at the school than I have. She said, “You go to the front office. I am going to ask ________ and ________ to go find her. Don’t worry, we will find her. I will keep looking around here, and you go to the front office.”
I ran to the front office. They called my daughter’s teacher on the phone.
She did not answer and my nerves continued to build.
My daughter’s teacher called the front office back. She had mistakenly sent her somewhere different for dismissal.
I breathed a gigantic sigh of relief.
Reunited with my daughter, I went to Laura.
Laura told my daughter, “You scared me. You scared your mama! We were looking for you. I even had _____ and _____ looking for you too.”
My daughter said she was sorry, though nothing was her fault, and I reminded her of that. Laura was just letting her know how much she cared and how worried she was. Laura was living by the motto, “every child matters.”
I thanked Laura several times and we went on our way for the day.
I thought about this experience all evening.
Laura did not have to help me. She owed me nothing.
Again, I am not related to her. We are not close friends.
I am merely an acquaintance.
Nevertheless, Laura took the time to help me.
She helped me because she saw I was scared that I could not find my daughter.
She helped me because my child needed help.
She helped me because she decided to take five minutes out of her time to care for another person’s problem.
She helped me because she knows it takes a village.
Instead of just saying, “It takes a village,” Laura’s actions lived up to that.
Plenty of people pretend not to notice when another person is in distress.
Not Laura. She jumped right into action.
Imagine if we all behaved this way towards our children?
Imagine what kind of community we could build if we all truly lived by the motto, “It takes a village.”
So today, I challenge you to be more like Laura.
Do it for the mama that is stressed out.
Do it for the kids that need an extra pair of eyes on them.
Do it for your community.
You’ll help change the world, one action at a time.
