Sarina was so excited to meet Mother Walrus. She got ready for school and was thrilled to be escorted by her teacher to the special meeting. She and a few others had been hand picked by the school to participate in this initiative. She has so many ideas to change the world. During the drive there, She dreamt of how her ideas and work would be noticed. Maybe there would be a newspaper article and she would become famous! After all she always did have a passion for helping the world in some way. The area of climate change was close to her heart. She wanted to focus on reducing the use of plastic.
She skimmed the notes she had written down. Perhaps they could raise funds to come up with non-plastic take out boxes and cutlery and offer it to restaurants for free. She also considered designing a cardboard crate that can be used to hold fruits and vegetables before billing them at grocery stores to avoid the plastic bags.
Mother Walrus was a climate change activist with several years of experience and she would surely be impressed by these ideas, she thought. And if she isn’t, she had a whole speech planned for convincing her on why her ideas were important. She definitely had to make her case since there was good competition against the other smart students who were part of the project.
They finally arrived and when they got down, Mother Walrus greeted them warmly by the sea shore where she lived. There were a group of sea animals hanging out at a distance but we hopped on to a broken boat where the meeting would take place away from the crowds.
All the students took turns in presenting their ideas one by one. She was all pumped up with energy and ready with her long list of ideas. She was pleased with the way she presented when her turn was done. After all students presented, Mother Walrus was to speak. Sarina fidgeted in her seat eager to listen to her wisdom and teaching. The moment finally arrived: Mother Walrus, cleared her throat and simply said, “I’m very thankful for this opportunity and glad I can be a part of it. I will let the children take the lead on the ideas. I have no agendas.”
An informal discussion took place at this point on how to move forward with the project based on all ideas presented. But Sarina’s mind was still stuck on what Mother Walrus had said…
I will let the children take the lead on the ideas. I have no agendas.
Can you believe she said that? Mother Walrus- the climate change activist said that. She had no agendas on a climate change project she was to work on with students! That just sounded really generous. Generous with her knowledge, generous with her time, generous with her good intentions. That’s how Sarina saw it.
She was tongue-tied by the gesture and it’s impact. She tried to stomach the beauty and weight of those words. Here she was letting herself think that she was going to change the world and become famous and feeling all self-righteous about her helping tendencies. But this person who knows so much more, who can offer so much more, who has done so much more, had no agendas and was willing to serve unselfishly, to give without expectations, to work without being seen. Beautiful.
She learnt something very important from her that day. Making a difference does not have to be big, loud and fancy. There was no need to compete for credit and agendas don’t need to be owned. But it could simply be to make yourself available for a cause that you care about. Period. “No agendas”.
Words Penspoken 