The other day I came across a six-inch by eight-inch board. Glued to it and coated over with varnish is a painting of a ship foundering in high seas. I remembered that it had been given to me by a third grade girl in Veracruz, Mexico. Because of the love with which it was offered by that little dark-eyed child, I have kept it and treasured it for more than 45 years.
I was given lots of things during my tenure as an educator both in Mexico and in the States. I have a little bale of cotton from Hermosillo, a Mayan poncho from Yucatan, a Jaguar archeological piece from Guadalajara, an Aztec Calendar from Mexico City, and a picture made of colorful bird feathers from Monterrey.
I have two whole shelves of coffee cups (I don’t even drink the stuff!). One year the 350 graduating seniors each handed me a dime during the graduation ceremony. Afterwards I learned that the offering was to go toward buying a new office chair since the one I had they considered to be worn out. Another class of seniors each handed me a beer-bottle cap in remembrance of the many lectures I had given them about teenage drinking. The members of the next graduating class each handed me a key. I don’t remember what that was for. I do remember, though, that instead of a key, one student contributed a condom. I surmise that he forgot his key that day and just gave me what he happened to have in his wallet.
Bonnie Dahlsrud has taught elementary school for more than 25 years. She, too, has received many interesting and imaginative things from her young charges. But last year was the first time she received a potato. “’A potato for the teacher,’ young Emma said proudly, ‘because I didn’t have an apple.’ It was a medium-sized potato, scrubbed clean and beautiful as far as potatoes go. I thanked her and placed it on my desk. I saw Emma’s large blue eyes shine with pride whenever she looked at it throughout the day.”
“After school, when I was working at my desk,” said Ms. Dahlsrud, “I couldn’t help but regard the potato with a tender smile. Children see things so simply, and with that common potato, Emma taught me something important. I left it on my desk for over a week because it served as a reminder to me.”
She went on to say that many times we are impressed to provide a service for someone but the cares of daily living get in the way and we put it off thinking to do it some other time. “But what if someone really did need me? What if I hadn’t ignored the promptings to visit an elderly neighbor or the young widow who just lost her husband? Could I have helped or served, even with what I could offer then—a ‘potato’?”
Ms. Dahlsrud has a potato at home that she thinks she will never eat. It serves as a constant reminder to “give what I can now instead of waiting until later.” She said that she doesn’t wait to make a casserole or her special lemon cream pie. “I buy a box of cookies instead. I don’t often get to the florist, but I can drop in for a chat without the flowers. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture of service every time… I give what I can now instead of waiting until later.” (Ensign Magazine, January 2015, p.15)
So, if you can’t give an apple, give a potato—or something else. The important thing is to give. “I read in a book,” said Toyohiko Kagawa, “that a man called Christ went about doing good. It is most disconcerting to me to find that I am so easily content with just going about.”
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