From time to time, I start to think about CHAT as an organization or a program, but the kids always remind me of the reality. We are more than a corporation, we are a community, a fellowship. Tutoring, mentoring, Bible studies, and trips are all great, but these do not define us. They are merely outgrowths of the community. I was reminded of this recently. One of kids in our community came up to me and had an incredibly perplexed look on his face. I probed a little, but this young man seemed like he was choking on the words, something not normal for this particular regular. Finally, he muttered, “Man, you are a role model! I mean, seriously, you really trust us and that’s important.”
I replied, “What do you mean?” I assumed mentally that he was talking about doing the tutoring with all the kids from the neighborhood, but he had something different in mind.
“No… No, that isn’t what I’m talkin’ about. That is cool and all, but I am talking about what you did today!” he retorted.
I had no idea what he was talking about. The day had been pretty ordinary. It wasn’t a tutoring day. My only real activity had been to drive the particular student to a school conference. So, I replied, “What are you talking about then?”
“When you gave him (another CHAT kid) a key! Man, that was just crazy! Nobody treats us like that. You are a role model. Who else is going to trust us?”
Earlier in the day, without thinking, I had given a key to another CHAT participant to allow them to wait at our house until we got back from the school conference. When we returned, unbeknownst to me, the boys talked for a long time about what that meant. Many of the kids in our neigborhood aren’t given keys to their own houses. For me (one of the few white guys in the community) to give a key to a young black man (who are numerous in our community) was a powerful statement to them.
The small things matter. Here at CHAT our goal is not to develop a larger organization, or conquer the world with our educational techniques. Our goal is to be a neighbor, to be attentive to those small things, to not only be trusted but to offer trust to young men and women who desperately desire to be trusted by someone.
By: Percy Strickland
