Children's Stories for the Benefit of the Generation that Follows

We will write children's stories the final week of the institute. My children's story was inspired by three things, my seven-year-old son, an academic competition that took place almost three decades ago, and the preamble from a piece of text.

Twenty nine years ago, as an eleven-year-old sixth-grade student at Doolittle East Elementary, I was training for an academic competition in the Chicago Public Schools district 11. We had to compete against the math and science powerhouses in our district. Our coach, Mrs. W., told us that we could not afford to come in second. We had to be the best, and we were. We crushed the Asian, White, and African American competition. Although others were surprised, we were not.

Often times, people confuse striving for the best as conceit or arrogance. It was just our way of thinking. The members of that academic team have gone on to serve society. My main man, DRD, now works for the federal government in Washington, D.C. after earning a law degree.

Why strive for the best? I read a preamble that contained the following words:

We live in a world where millions die from easily preventable diseases.. and still more face hunger as a daily fact of life. We are locked inside a worldwide economic system that dispenses crumbs and extends privileges to a relatively small number, while forcing billions to seek desperately for work that more often than not numbs the mind, crushes the spirit and destroys the body.... We walk through our days in a world where the lives of countless children are ground up and destroyed...as victims of poverty and humiliation... their potential crushed, or their lives cut short.


I WANT TO BE... (You will see the illustrations during the institute)
by

Alfred W. Tatum
July 26, 2009

I want to be
the fastest

I want to be
the smartest

I want to be
the strongest

I want to be
the coolest

I want to be
the richest

I want to be
the happiest

I want to be
the healthiest

I want to be
the nicest

I want to be
the sharpest

I want to be
the neatest

I want to be
the proudest

I want to be the
the worldliest

I want to be
the awesome-est

I want to be
the best

person ever.

My seven-year-old loved it. He added the line, I want to be the awesome-est.

Let's not be apologetic for what we want for the generation that follows.