Eyes that see the good in things: January 29, 2018

This job of mine isn’t easy sometimes. I’ve been looking all week for a “good in things” story to tell and was getting a little nervous when Thursday morning came, and I still didn’t have anything. Thursday is the day we go to press, you know.

I did get a chance to do some photography when the weather conditions left us with beautifully frosted trees. I kept forgetting to change the settings on the camera, though, and was switching from close-ups to landscapes. That didn’t work out so well for me. I decided that I needed some instruction and joined a Facebook photography group. They’re an active group, have beautiful pictures, are very willing to offer advice and they even have some online courses for me to take!

On an up note, as a follow-up to last week’s column, I thought I’d let you know that the total amount that Vikings fans donated to New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead’s charity, What You Give Will Grow, was almost a quarter of a million dollars. The generosity of the donations prompted the punter to return to Minnesota to present a check to Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota for its child life program, which provides emotional support and activities for hospitalized children and families.

An article in the Washington Post told about the Vikings fans donations and other donations this year as one of the NFL’s happier story lines this season. The article told about the Minnesota fans donations and said that Buffalo Bills fans had started the trend earlier in the season. The latest fans to engage are fans of the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Yes, Eagles fans have been demonstrating civic virtue and consideration for others. You read that correctly,” the author writes. “Well, a few Eagles fans, anyway. As it turns out, not all of them are the kind of people who will pelt Santa with snowballs. Or who, in a much more recent example, will gleefully hurl full beer cans at fans of a rival team heading toward Philadelphia’s stadium.”

These Eagles fans have been donating to the charitable foundation of Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer, with messages apologizing for the bad apples, to show that not all Eagles fans are like that.

Coach Mike Zimmer responded on the Vikings website by saying, “We may not have gotten the warmest welcome in Philadelphia or the outcome that we wanted, but it’s cool to see when football fans from different teams come together to do some good.”

Just when I was getting ready to give up and post a big picture of a tree instead of a column, (kidding, kind of...) I came across this story. At this time in our country, we consistently hear about men not stepping up, not being there, not doing their part in the family, and just being absent from the home; this is a story about many men who stepped forward to help fill that gap. It reminds me that there are a lot of people who want to do the right thing. Sometimes, we just need to know where help is needed.

The story started with a Facebook post sent by the organizer of a Breakfast with Dads event at a middle school in Dallas. The event is a morning where boys can spend time with adult men, asking them whatever is on their mind over muffins, fruit and orange juice. Over 150 youth signed up for the event, requesting a mentor. Many of them had dads who couldn’t make it to the event or they just didn’t have a father figure in their lives.

With that kind of response from the kids, the organizers said they weren’t going to let them down, especially when these students were going out of their way for a chance to talk with adults.

That’s when they started sending out Facebook messages, pleading with people to share the message that, although they already had some volunteers, they needed 50 to 100 more to be able to meet the needs of the students that morning.

The response was heart-warming; the events website crashed, because so many men signed up to participate. Nearly 600 men showed up that morning. A member of the National Guard told his story about what it’s like serving in the military, and law enforcement showed up in great numbers. Learning to tie a necktie was one of the lessons for the day, and many of the men showed up with extra neckties to send home with the boys. All the men came ready and willing to share their skills and their time in whatever way the group of 11-13-year-old boys needed.

The school has been using mentoring programs like this one as part of its commitment to improvement. Only three years ago, this school was considered to be one of the worst performing

schools in its district. It had so many problems that the superintendent visited the school and fired ten people on the spot, including the principal. Since that time, the community has banded together and supported the school. They are a big part of the school’s turnaround and they have more mentorship events planned for the future.

ABC News - America Strong, reported that the look on the boys faces that morning said it all, just in knowing that all these men had shown up for them. The men who showed up said that it was a life-changing event for them, too. The assistant chief of police said that he could not explain the feeling that he got when he walked in the room to see all of those men there for the express purpose of supporting

younger men. He summed it up by saying, “our young men need us, and this is our time to pay it forward.” 

We would love to share local stories about the good things your eyes are seeing.

Stop in to share your stories with us, give us a call at 947-2417 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Or send a letter to Eyes That See the Good in Things, c/o Allison Lindgren, The Transcript, 6 8th St N., New Rockford, ND 58356.