Suppose your middle-school child came home the first week and told you, "Well, today in band practice we played our pencils."
Would you believe that story?
That's exactly what Sacramento music teacher Donna Pool instructed her new band students to do.
(Maybe she took her cues from Professor Harold Hill in the musical, "The Music Man.")
This 2010 tale is worth retelling because it carries a timeless lesson for us all.
Some of Mrs. Pool's beginning band students at Arcade Fundamental Middle School had no instruments. What's more, there was no money in the budget to purchase them.
What would you do?
This teacher was determined to keep alive her students' interest in learning to play. Determined enough to risk being called a fool. I'd call her a hero. See if you agree.
The word got out
It's small wonder that Donna Pool's story appeared in The Sacramento Bee.
That year Arcade Fundamental had so many students signed up for the new beginning band class that there weren't enough instruments to go around.
Did Donna Pool rant and rave? No.
Did she blame funding cuts and tell her students to start carrying signs? No.
Instead she announced they would work with what they had until they had more. Then she began teaching them basic fingering techniques, using pencils and ballpoint pens.
(Mrs. Pool still teaches multiple levels of band at Arcade Fundamental, also the jazz band and concert choir.)
The news spreads
Once The Sacramento Bee article appeared, local television news crews followed. Even CNN picked up the story, although she turned down an interview with Brian Williams.
In no time instruments began pouring in from all over town and around the country, enough for their needs and more. Excess instruments were added to the San Juan Unified School District's inventory. Anything over that they donated to other school districts.
Mrs. Pool encouraged callers to take their instruments to schools in their own communities.
She attributed the shortage of instruments to adding a new beginning band class rather than budget cuts. However, she said, "The arts don't get enough money. Schools don't get enough money."
Nevertheless, Mrs. Pool must be doing something right. As of 2010 the music program had grown from 120 students to 190 students and about one-third of the school's 600 students played in one of their five bands. (Sorry, I couldn't get current enrollment figures.)
There's a take-home here for you and me
This is one of those win-win stories from which we can learn.
- Instead of spending their energies bemoaning what was lacking Mrs. Pool and her students sucked it up and found a way to make it work. We can, too.
- It's possible to keep moving toward our goal even when conditions are not what we would choose.
- Creative thinking can lead us down interesting paths–and sometimes that's just what's needed–so it's good to always have a Plan B ready.
- Doing unto others as we would have them do unto us has not perished from these United States.
- When we get involved we can make things better in our community and in other places.
We can get stuck in what's lacking
At any age it's easy to fixate on what's missing in our lives. We endlessly replay all the things we wish were different.
This takes us nowhere.
My grandmother lived through her share of hard times and doing without. She used to say, "Do the best you can with what you got."
Grandma's grammar might make English teachers cringe, but Donna Pool modeled this truth for her students and taught them a life lesson they won't forget.
It's still good advice
Whatever our age, whatever our situation, each of us can lift our hearts and bless others by focusing on what is and doing what we can.
It's as John Wesley said years ago:
"Do all the good you can.
By all the means you can.
In all the ways you can.
In all the places you can.
At all the times you can.
To all the people you can.
As long as ever you can."
The good we do may be as "small" as praying for individuals who do a good job. Or supporting them with encouraging words–to them and about them.
Such simple gestures can mean the world to those on the receiving end. And they won't cost us a cent.
Here's to stepping out in faith,
Lenore
Note: Photos are from the Sacramento Bee.
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