Many of you I'm sure have seen...

...the Oprah Winfrey special "Building A Dream" about her establishment of a top-end boarding school for girls in South Africa. If you didn't, you should! I have seen the whole thing twice and many parts of it many more times, and it never fails to move me. What Oprah has done is absolutely remarkable- it's so uplifting to see a celebrity use her wealth in such a phenomenal way- but listening to what the girls have been through and how they can go through so much pain and come out so positive and full of life is truly inspiring. That is why, when a girl in my French class brought it up, I went to my teacher and asked if she wanted to borrow the video we had of it to show to the class (okay, it wasn't TOTALLY a way to get out of classwork- though that was a bonus.) It tied somewhat into the curriculum, but I thought that it was important to share this truly inspiring special with the kids in my grade, since frankly, we don't get much exposure to extreme hardship in our town.

We watched the video this week, and I could see some kids close to tears. Of course, and I include myself in this generalization, it's hard for high schoolers to think about many other people- let alone anyone outside of our families or social groups- when there is so much pressure to perform well in academics, sports, etc., while maintaining a relatively normal life. It's hard to focus on everything pertaining to ourselves sometimes, even, especially when it's necessary for getting into college, etc. But I was really happy to see how this special touched so many other kids my age, and I hope we all will take the opportunity someday to be a little less self-centered. And hey, volunteering and giving back to the world doesn't look bad on college applications, either ;-).