Sandra Mcleod Humphrey - Its Up to You... What Do You Do?

Keri and Allison stared at their homework assignment. No one should be expected to read a book that long in less than a weekand write a book report.

Keri thumbed through the book to the last page. Look at this, almost one hundred pages! It'll take me forever to get through this.

Allison smiled and shook her head. No, it won't. My mom's got the audiocassette for this book at home. All we have to do is listen to the cassette and then write the book report. We can even play video games while we listen to the cassette. No sweat.

Keri closed the book and nodded. Okay, bring the cassette over tomorrow after school and we can listen to it then.

The next day in school, Ms. Murphy showed the class a film about Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Arthur Ashe. Then she asked the class, What did all these people have in common?

The class just looked blank and both Keri and Allison shook their heads. They didn't have any idea what these people had in common.

Ms. Murphy moved to the front of the class and sat on the corner of her desk. Okay, I'll give you a clue. What did all these people do?

The class still looked confused, but Keri raised her hand and volunteered.

Thomas Edison was a famous inventor, Lincoln was a famous president, and Einstein was a famous scientist. Mrs. Roosevelt was the wife of a president and did a lot of things to help other peoplekind of like Princess Dianaand Arthur Ashe was a famous tennis player. They were all famous people, but I don't think they were very much alike at all.

Allison was the next to raise her hand. I agree with Keri. I don't think they were alike either. Some were men and one was a woman and they all had different jobs. So what did they have in common?

Ms. Murphy smiled. Think about the film. Did all of these people have a lot of problems? And did any of these people give up or take the easy way out when they had a problem?

William was the next to volunteer. Yes, to the first question and no to the second. All those guys had big problems. Edison failed thousands of times before he got his inventions to work, and Lincoln lost more elections than he won before he was finally elected president.

Then Allison's hand shot back up. And how about Mrs. Roosevelt? One of her aunts told her she was the ugly duckling of the family, but she just kept on doing her own thing and helping people anyway. And Arthur Ashe faced a lot of racial discrimination in his tennis tournaments, but he just kept on going, too. They all just kept on going like the Energizer bunny until they succeeded at what they were trying to do. No one gave up.

Ms. Murphy smiled again and gave her a thumbs-up. You got it. All of these people just kept going in spite of their problems. No one gave up or took the easy way out, and what did it get them?

Keri raised her hand again. That's easy. They all got to be so famous that we read about them in books. I guess hard work pays off in the end.

The bell rang and Ms. Murphy put the video back in its case. Okay, class, just think about the film and we'll talk about it some more tomorrow.

After school, Allison came over to Keri's house. She had her mom's audiocassette for the book they both had to read and she told Keri she was ready to get started.

Allison grinned as she put the cassette in the tape player and turned it on. This is going to be a piece of cake.

Keri turned the tape player off and said, Wait a minute. Let's be sure we want to do this.

Do you think Keri is going to read the book or listen to the cassette? Why?

More to think about:

If you were Keri, what would you do? Why?

What do you think Allison will do?

What do you think Ms. Murphy would do if she found out the girls hadn't really read the book?

Do you think that some people might call listening to the cassette instead of reading the book a form of cheating? Why or why not?

When you have to do something that is really hard, do you think it's okay to take the easy way out? Why or why not?

Cindy, Ashley, and Betsy waved good-bye to their grandfather and watched as his airplane glided down the runway and took off.

His visit had been great as usual. They had gone to movies, fished for hours from the dock, and had picnic lunches almost every day. That morning as they helped him pack his bags, they wished that he never had to leave and could stay with them forever.

As their grandfather closed his last bag, he told them that he had something very special for them. Then he gave each sister an envelope with fifty dollars in it and told them they could use their money in any way they wanted. It was his special gift to each of them.

Although the girls were triplets and looked a lot alike, they didn't always think the same way about everything. They had all been taught the importance of saving money as well as the importance of spending money wisely, so they did a lot of serious thinking about what to do with their gifts. Then each one came up with a different plan.

Cindy wanted to be sure that nothing happened to her money, so she hid it in a corner of her closet under her shoe shelf, where she knew it would be safe and where no one else would be able to find it. Then when their grandfather visited them again at Christmas, she would show him the whole fifty dollars still safe and sound just as he had given it to her.

She didn't even write anything in her diary about where the money was hidden. She wasn't taking any chances that someone might find the money. She wanted to be sure that her money stayed right where it was until she saw Grandpa again.

Ashley thought a long time about her fifty dollars and then finally decided to put her money in a bank where it could earn some interest and increase in value over the next few months. She called all three neighborhood banks and found out that one bank had a special college account where her money would earn higher interest than if she just put her money in a regular savings account. That sounded good to her, so she decided that was where she would put her money. She would do what she heard Mom and Dad talk about. She would invest in her future.

Ashley could hardly wait until their grandfather returned at Christmas to show him how her money had grown in her account and yet she was able to keep it in a safe place where nothing could happen to it. She knew that no one could have done more with their fifty dollars than she had and she was feeling really great about her plan.

After a lot of thought, Betsy finally made her decision about what to do with her fifty dollars. Her class was taking donations to sponsor a young boy named Vinod in India. The money would be used to buy clothes and school supplies and medicine. Then each donation was going to be matched by a big computer company in their city.

That meant her money would really be worth one hundred dollars once it was matched by the computer company and she would also be helping her class reach their goal of supporting Vinod for an entire year.

Betsy felt pleased with her decision and was sure that when Grandpa returned at Christmas, he would also be pleased.