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| Rachel Scott. |
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| Rachel traced her hands on the back of her dresser as a girl, writing: These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will some day touch millions of people's hearts. |
November 27, 2008
Two days before Thanksgiving, a group of seventh and eighth grade students from Cornwall Central Middle School made a discovery that many hope will help change the world.
In an assembly hall the students listened to the story of Rachel Scott, a 17-year-old girl killed in the Columbine school massacre in 1999 who believed that compassion is the greatest form of love a person can give and who, weeks before she died, encouraged others to start a chain reaction of kindness.
In the presentation, Joseph Manning, a former neighbor from Colorado, spoke about Rachel and the journal where she wrote what she called “My Ethics: My Code of Life.”
Manning described an outgoing teen who wouldn’t fall into the trap of judging others. “I want to reach out to the disabled, those new at school or put down and picked on,” she wrote in her journal. “People will never know how far a little kindness goes.”
Before her death, Rachel looked to Anne Frank for strength and vision and she seemed to have a forewarning of her fate, telling friends that she would die young. Weeks before her death at Columbine she wrote of dying in a homicide.
The Cornwall students listened in silence, some softly crying, to the story of this teen with so much love to give who was senselessly murdered, one of ten students killed at the Columbine High School by two fellow students whose actions were driven by hate and anger.
Through the words of the journal, which was hit by a bullet as it lay tucked in her jacket the day of the attack, Rachel’s challenge lives on. Following the assembly, dozens of children pledged to follow Rachel’s teaching, to spread kindness and watch it grow.
Here are the words of Rachel’ challenge:
1. Eliminate Prejudice 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 and Friends.
Middle school principal Diana Musich said the day after the assembly that she has never seen so many people affected by an inspirational speaker. She showed a banner that several of the young students had already signed, pledging to take up Rachel’s challenge in their own lives. The group will form a club to discuss how they can use their time and energy to make a positive difference in the world, much like Rachel did with her challenge.
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