Guest Blog: "The Power of ONE" by @Be_Pure

The Power of ONE

Being requested as a guest for an event or blog is always a rewarding and humbling experience. One that is followed almost immediately by the question: how can I best serve both message and audience? I guess, for me, it is especially difficult, since I stay on specific soapbox the majority of the time: parenting and early childhood development. I’d hate to always speak on the same things. Then again, until we get it right, why speak on something else? Novelty for novelty’s sake doesn’t serve the message. As it relates to babies, my heartsong is fierce. Here is a summary: http://www.scribd.com/doc/53318308. Under normal circumstances, I’d stay on that soapbox but recent events will have me adjust it, just a tad.
Here’s my thing. I am an excellent mother. Perfect? Hardly. Excellent? Absolutely. I need no more validation than the one I get daily, moment by moment, from my three year old prince. But that is simply not enough. It is not enough for my child to know the difference between a single unit, ten, one hundred, and one thousand, or that he know the continents, or how a flower grows, or how to decode words in two languages, or how to do yoga poses, or say affirmations, or, or, or! As much as this satisfies me, it is simply not good enough.
As community, we must stop believing that the well being of our children is our sole responsibility. We must also stop believing that “those” parents and “those” children, whose brokenness, we refer to in contrast to our own are incorrigible, unreachable, or even that distant. They are us. We are them. And it is really that simple. The things that affect me as a mother, affect my sister, neighbor, friend, cousin. And the things that affect my child affect her child. In reference to a healthy development, what works with my preschooler, most likely, works with her preschooler and so on.
Here is where I am going. When people read my book (link above) they contact me and ask “what’s the next step?” My answer is always the same: begin to look at young parents and caregivers as the keepers of your hope. Then, share the information with compassion as often as needed. When we do this, systematically and effectively, we win. There lies the power of ONE. One person sharing with one other person in, which they see and feel a common interest is all that is required to create change.
Rooted in my belief that what is good for my prince is good for all babies, I recently contacted the organization whose early literacy curriculum I use and asked them to travel to Puerto Rico in order to somehow device a plan and get this curriculum in the hands of low income parents and their babies; however many we could reach. The founder of Souns (www.souns.org) came and after legwork, we ended up with the city of San Juan buying into the idea of implementing the curriculum in all the EarlyStart and HeadStarts of the region. Based on the results of that program, other municipalities will follow. There are 5k babies under 5 in that program, San Juan being the host of some of the poorest and historically oppressed communities on the island. Additionally, I’ve started 4 (and counting) parent led community groups that will use and teach the curriculum with their babies, all of which include mothers living in public housing, one in a rural neighborhood where illiteracy is the norm, and one through the Children’s Museum. These children will read and write before they ever set foot inside a public kindergarten. This much I KNOW. I also know that without this initiative they wouldn’t have. That’s significant. By the way, I hold no financial interest in the matter, I’m not getting a cent for this project, and the city will not pay for the curriculum; it is being funded through Rotary and Lions.

Here is the lesson I really wish to share: I didn’t do anything more than exercise the power of ONE. I made a call. I sent a tweet. I asked the question. Had I only gotten a YES for ONE mother and child I would have been elated just the same. But I was only able to impact over 5k children (this month) because I was willing to make a call for ONE. In a way, this post is more a plea than it even is a post. Whatever it is that you came here to find, peace, wealth, growth, advice, knowledge, health…those are the very things your brother is missing. As you receive, cry out for him, exercise the power of ONE so that he too will receive. You are not powerless but powerful and until we each realize this, we are just reading, we are just tweeting, we are just talking. And with that, you have just heard my soulsong.