Well I'll start from where I first heard about this wonderful thing called "Rachel's Challenge". It was Wednesday (January 10) at an assembly. Now you may be thinking "What's so important about something called "Rachel's Challenge?" To tell you the truth, I thought that, too. But it is actually a very important lesson that can't be learned in a classroom. And this isn't supposed to get people all sad/depressed. It's just supposed to send a powerful message. 
So here it goes:
"Rachel Scott was the first person killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her acts of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for one of the most life-changing school programs in America - Rachel's Challenge." The five major things taught in Rachel's Challenge are:
Rachel's Challenge wrote:
1. Elimanate Prejuidice by looking for the Best in others.
2. Dare to Dream - set goals - keep a journal
3. Choose your Influences -input determines output
4. Kind Words - small acts of kindness = HUGE impact
5. Start a Chain Reaction with family & friends.
At first I thought, "Oh, this isn't going to change my school. The way we are is set in stone." But I couldn't have been more wrong..
One of the things that Rachel did that the man giving the presentation (Clint) told us was that she always treated everyone with much compassion and equal kindness. We were told of how, when there was a new student at her school that moved across the country for a new start after her mother died, Rachel went out of her way to be kind to her. She brought her friends over to sit with the new girl at lunch so she wouldn't have to be by herself. We were told of how Rachel stood up for a young man being teased about his handycap. That boy was going to commit suicide that day, too. But because of Rachel, he didn't. Just that one act of kindness saved his life that day.
Just a month before she was killed, Rachel wrote a paper called "My Ethics, My Codes of Life" She could have wrote it about anything, but this is what she wrote:
Rachel wrote:
My Ethics, My Codes of Life
Rachel Scott period 5
Ethics vary with environment, circumstances, and cluture. In my own life, ethics play a major role. Whether it was because of the way I was raised, the experiences I've had, or just my outlook on the world and the way things should be. My biggest aspects of ethics include being honest, compassionater, and looking for the best and beauty in everyone.
I have been told repeatedly that I trust people to easily, but I find that when I put my faith in people when others would not dare to, they almost never betray me. I would hope that people would put that same faith in me. Trust and honesty is an investment you put in people; if you build enough trust in them and show yourself to be honest, they will do that same in you. I value honesty so much, and it is an expectation I have of myself. I will put honesty before the risk of humiliation, before selfishness, and before anything less worthy of the Gospel truth. Even in being honest and trust worthy, I do not come off cold and heartless. Compassion and honesty go hand in hand, if enough of each is put into every situation. I admire those who trust and are trust worthy.
Compassion is the greatest form of love humans have to offer. According to Webster's Dictionary compassion means a feeling of sympathy for another's misfortune. My definition of compassion is forgiving, loving, helping, leading, and showing mercy for others. I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.
It wasn't until recently that I learned that the first and second and the thrid impressions can be deceitful of what kind of person someone is. For example, imagine you had just met someone, and you speak with them three times on brief everyday conversations. They come off as a harsh, cruel, stubborn, and ignorant person. You reach your judgment based on just these three encounters. Let me ask you something... did you ever ask them what their goal in life is, what kind of past they came from, did they experience love, did they experience hurt, did you look into their soul and not just at their appearance? Until you know them and not just thier "type" you have no right to shun them. You have not looked for their beauty, their good. You have not seen the light in their eyes. Look hard enough and you will always find a light, and you can even help it grow, if you don't walk away from those three impressions first.
I am sure that my codes of life may be very different from yours, but how do you know that trust, compassion, and beauty will not make this world a better place to be in and this a better life to live? My codes may seem like a fantasy that can never be reached, but test them for yourself, and see the kind of effect they have in the lives of people around you. You just may start a chain reaction.
To see the actual paper with her grade and even her teachers comment go
HERE
Something else about Rachel we were told was that she knew she was going to die young. She had had a 'preminiton' that she wasn't going to have a long life. But all her friends said she talked about it very normaly, like how we talk about the sky being bleu and the grass green.
But she also knew she would touch millions of people. At the age of 13, Rachel wrote something on the back of her dresser most 13 year olds would not possibly able to even think of:
"These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people's hearts."
Just the fact that she
knew she would is something. Even though it took her death do touch millions of people, she still did. Her story has been told in America, Canada, Bermuda, Germany, and South America and hundreds of people have heard it.
Another thing that was very powerful (to me at least) was that after her death, a man called Mr. Scott telling him that he had repeating dreams of Rachel's eyes crying with something growing, but he could not see what was growing. The man was not a physic, either. A week after Rachel died, her father was allowed to get her belongings (as they had to be held as evidence). Eager to see her last journal entry, he flipped to the back. But it wasn't a normal entry. It was a picture of her eyes crying, the tears chaning to blood and falling on a rose. There were 13 tear and blood drops. And that was how many student had been killed.
She had also drawn a rose growing out of another flower.. A columbine flower. So Rachel
knew what was going to happen. She somehow
knew that was going to be her last day.
Eleven and a half months before Rachel's 17th birthday she wrote in her journal that it was going to be her last year and she thanked God.
On April 20, 1999 Rachel and a friend where sitting outside of Columbine Highschool eating there lunch when two fellow students came over a hill with shot guns and began to open fire. Rachel was shot and killed as they approached the school. It was a few days after her 17th birthday. She had been right. Rachel died young. But she touched millions of people.
"Clint told us that one day while Rachel was working at Subway, and old homeless women came in to warm up. When Rachel saw the women her heart melted and she started to make the women a free meal, but stopped. Her mind was telling her to stop that this women probobly went from restaurant to restaurant, hoping to get free food. Rachel put everything away. But when she looked back at the women her heart broke. She started to get the stuff out again, then stopped. This happened several times, back and forth. Then another women came in. She saw the homeless women and imediatly went up to the counter and ordered two sandwhiches, which one she gave to the women.
After the two had left Rachel felt bad about letting someone else do something she knew she was supposed to have done. Then she noticed the homeless women had left her gloves behind. Rachel picked them up hoping she would come back and then she could give her a free dessert or something. But the women never came back.
Rachel took the gloves and kept them on her dresser with a note, reminding her that there was still some good out there, and that she should help spread it." [written by Silent Wolf. I just added it here.
]
Clint then told us what to do if our heart and head got into an agrument over something like that. And it's simple. Tell you're head to "shut up." You're heart is always right, you just have to listen to it.
Rachel's Challange really affected my school. On Friday we had a new kid. Of cource, the new kid didn't know anyone, so he sat by himself. And then what we learned kicked in and of all the people in the school PREPS went up to sit by him and make him feel welcome. PREPS! Even they had been touched by this.
And now, you all have to do something. Find at least 5 people,
at the very least!, that you truely care about, and tell them so. It doesn't matter how, just let them know you care. It was also something we learned. It doesn't matter if you are a student or not, do it anyway. Young or Old. No one is above or below the age limit.
As Rachel said "I will not be labeled as average."
For more information on Rachel's Challenge go here:
http://rachelschallenge.com/
And to see a video about Rachel's Challenge go here:
Rachel's Challenge Video
And now it's your turn to "start a chain reaction."
