An 18-year-old high school senior was elected to the Board of Education in a major city, in a state just east of Oregon.
The incumbent he ran against, an older individual, was endorsed by a group that had “planned an armed protest” at the 18-year-old candidate’s “high school after a student was suspended for bringing a gun near campus,” according to an article in the Guardian newspaper. The group also wanted a local library to remove various books from its shelves, according to other media.
The incumbent, in the Board of Education race, declined to disavow the group’s endorsement, it seems, and the teen candidate, who is focused on school funding, voting rights and climate education, to name a few of the things he’s been working on, went on to win the election.
Having recently written about soul-searching, hearing about this young gentleman got me thinking about a letter I’d written more than three years ago, here in the Daily Post, about heart-warming stories that were featured on a Sunday morning TV program.
There was a school bus driver telling kids to watch out for, and to love, one another. Each day, he had something good to say.
And there was a musician serenading immigrants who had just arrived in his city, a musician who, in his day job, was the music director of the Louisville Orchestra.
And there was the soldier, who spent his free time, in Iraq, composing music honoring fallen soldiers.
“There’s some good people out there,” I mentioned in that letter. “That’s good to know.”
Soul-searching, I suppose that’s what it was, in a way, in that Letter, and now as well, with this teenager who’s engaged in a good number of causes, while he’s also volunteering as a community organizer, and now taking on responsibilities as an elected member of his community’s Board of Education.
There indeed are some mighty good folks out there.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.