Build on what is already good and don’t sort what does not need fixed!
Let me explain my thinking
Today I was reading the final few stories in Gordon Brown ( the UK Prime Minister)’s book “Britain’s Everyday Heroes”. I have no political allegiance – it just so happens he compiled the book.
It is a collection of stories about ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
Two chapters back to back made me think. One is about Stevie Siegerson from Columba 1400 who I have worked with and I blogged about him a while back. Stevie quotes John Buchan
“Our task is not to put greatness back into humanity, but to elicit it, for the goodness is there already”
He goes on to comment on the work of Columba 1400 saying that “the core of our task is to bring out what is there already..”
The next chapter is about Vic Eccleston. He starts by talking about adult perception of children and what they will and won’t do with a wonderful story about a group of 14year olds who wanted to play cricket. The view was that they would not see it through but they did …. and expanded to include other sports. I don’t want to spoil the story – but suffice to say that Vic believes that every young person has something in them just waiting to be tried out and developed.
He says
It’s about potential and there is great
potential there. If we fund potential and
look for it and look for those sparks, we can
cause a fire. We have to offer these kids
those tiny burning embers. They may go
out, or smoulder, or burst into flame. They
may be like a peat fire that goes
underground and then, three miles down
the road, bursts through and you say: where the hell did that come from?
For more by Vic check out http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/publications/Part1_phpHOgjuR.pdf
There are loads of “initiatives” aimed at solving the “problem of young people” . Regular readers will know that it is my experience that every time I work with young people they surprise themselves when they realise what they can do. Too often they only hear about what they can’t!
