All kids are our kids

When I was an intern at Amazing Grace Lutheran here in Anchor-town, the congregation was focusinig on the "Assets" program to encourage adults to connect and support kids in the congregation.

Each Sunday, a member would read an "asset" that helps communities build healthy kids. She'd end with this chant, "All kids are our kids." The congregation got so good at this that it became common parlance around AGLC.

Today I attended an all-school assembly at Denali Elementary, just down the street from Central. As an aside, I don't think I've attended an assembly since the days when I sported blond pigtails, huge plastic glasses and light blue stirrup pants.

Anyway, the assembly was to honor students who'd completed Peer Mediator training, which empowers kids to be problem solvers among each other in classrooms and on playgrounds. The 3-day training was held at Central. We were to receive a thank you card just for offering the space in our building.

I came because I was asked, planned to accept my little thank you card and duck out early. I stayed for the whole assembly, mesmerized.

First, I was amazed at the kids' ability to sit on a hard floor and be mostly quiet.

Then, I was totally impressed with the guidance counselor's use of the values of Denali Elementary (respect and kindness are two of four). I was blown away by a presentation from a group of 6th-grade girls called "Girls Hold up the world" and a skit by a number of upper elementary students demonstrating the problems of name-calling. (We all chanted, "No sticks, no stones, no dissing.")

Finally, I was humbled by the gi-normous thankyou card for Central and the guidance counselor's comments thanking Central for its support of Denali and support of the Campfire USA program we house here. I had tears in my eyes as I accepted the card and watched the kids' presentation. These felt like "our kids" though I knew only a few of them from Campfire.

One of my parishioners who works at Denali sat next to me and she was teary-eyed too. We noted that maybe our world is full of hopelessness and kids standing up in front of other kids pledging to be mediators and warning about name-calling gives us hope for the world.

Take home lesson: be respectful of others, try to work out problems peacefully and most importantly, no dissing.

Oh that adults could live this in our world!