Maybe this doesn’t impact you directly, but I am here today to suggest that, in fact, all of us are impacted by the return of the school bus. First, there is the obvious: traffic is interrupted as the red stop sign arm is extended. Hopefully, everyone is a bit more cautious knowing that there are young people waiting on the side of the road who aren’t necessarily paying attention to cars speeding by. Second, if you do have school age children in your home, everything shifts from wake up time to bed time, to helping with homework and attending extracurricular activities.
Let’s walk beyond all of that and into our future. Today’s school children are tomorrow’s leaders, teachers, healers, colleagues, politicians. They will make decisions which guide societal values, the services provided, those who serve us in public office.
This is not news, I know.
What might be news to you is this: You and I, all of us, have a responsibility to the younger generation, to the children in those buses. No, we are not responsible to teach them everything we know so they “do it right” when they reach our age. Instead, I wonder:
How do I want future leaders to BE?
What qualities shine in those I look up to now?
I want those who lead and serve in my world to be strong, compassionate, connected and present, caring, kind, respectful, living lives of integrity, open to dialogue, passionate yet willing to change direction for the greater good. I want them to be humbly confident, to respect and love themselves and to value their worth. I want them to create quality relationships with people and our natural world.
How would you answer those questions?
Here’s the thing: whatever it is that we desire from those around us – from our leaders both present and future – from our partners and children today – whatever that is, WE MUST BE THAT … NOW!
Who we BE, how we act, what we say and what we do, this is how we are creating the world we inhabit. All of us are co-creating our present and our future through our thoughts, actions and impact. And that impact on today’s bus riders is our responsibility!
Who will you BE today?
What energy will you give to the world around you?
What impact do you want to have on the leaders of tomorrow?