The Page of Thoughts

Today a guest speaker told us the incredibly moving story about Rachel Scott.

Rachel Scott was and still is the most compassionate human being on Earth. Throughout her life, she performed small acts of kindness that had a huge impact on others. For example, one day at school during lunch she noticed a girl sitting in the corner, all by herself. Rachel went out of her way to sit and talk to her, and dragged all her friends over, too. Rachel stood up for the disabled, the bullied, and the victimized.

On April 20, 1999, two gunmen stormed onto the Columbine High School campus. Rachel was the first to be shot. She was eighteen years old. The gunmen then went into the library, where Rachel’s brother Craig and many other students were frantically scrambling for cover. The gunmen approached one of Craig’s friends, one of the few African Americans at the school, and started calling him every racial slur they could think of. Then they murdered him. They turned to Craig’s other friend, who was hiding under the desk. They shot him too. They pointed their barrels at Craig but were momentarily distracted by the ringing fire alarms.

Thirteen people died that day.

Later, Rachel’s father discovered an essay Rachel wrote for fifth period class, titled “My Ethics, My Codes of Life.” In it, she stated, “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.”

Rachel left more than just an essay behind. When she was thirteen years old, Rachel traced her hands onto the back of a dresser and wrote that those hands would touch the lives of millions of people. In her diary, she wrote that she would change the world. And indeed, her story has touched millions of people and changed the world.

Rachel challenges us to be unprejudiced, compassionate, and to reach out to others.

Do you accept that challenge?