Be the Difference

Tom Ziglar recounts a story that his father, Zig Ziglar, would tell about a young boy and his grandfather walking down the beach.  A big storm had come in the day before and there were hundreds and hundreds of sand-dollars washed up and starting to die in the sun.  As they walked, the grandfather would stop from time to time, reach down, pick up a sand dollar and throw it into the ocean.  Finally, the little boy asked, “Grandfather, why are you throwing them back in?” and his grandfather replied, “So that they will live.” The little boy thought for a minute and said, “But grandfather, there are so many of them! What possible difference can it make?”  And the grandfather, reaching down and tossing another one back into the ocean, said, “To that one, it will make all of the difference in the world.”

No matter how many times I have heard the tale, each time it touches my heart and reminds me that each day we wake on this planet and are given a new slate.  We can choose to be the difference.

Ghandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see.”   But, how do we be the change we wish to see in the world, when the world seems so messed up right now?  By not trying to boil the ocean, but in starting small and remembering along the way the most simple gesture of good will can have an amazing ripple effect.

For as long as I can remember each day, as I see my boys off for the day, I say “do something today that changes the world.” What a reward later in the day to hear them recount the great things they did. My favorite? My then 8-year-old who told his teacher she looked beautiful in her purple dress. In return for “making her day” she allowed him to be first in both the recess and lunch line. Talk about learning a life lesson about the ripple effect first hand!

Recently, my 15-year-old caught me off guard. When I dropped him off and before I was able to say the words he turned to me and said, “Off to change the world, Mom.” Yes, this is the same son who brought a tear to my eye months ago when he turned to me at drop off and said, "Make good decisions today Mom."  Absolutely, no doubt that he will change the world, but instead of sand-dollars it will be one person at a time. 

What Science Means to Me by Brandon

Science is the ultimate attempt at discovery. From discovering what makes soda explode, to discovering how to plant hundreds of thousands of trees in a day. From discovering how to create stable environments for experimentation, to discovering what make the body work. This is what science is to me.

Discovering what is true by making a hypothesis and then testing the hypothesis through repeatable and verifiable experiments. For example, last year my friend and I saw a You Tube video on Mentos and Diet Coke explosions. We didn’t believe that simply putting Mentos in Diet Coke could create the soda to explode. We decided we wanted to do it, so we asked our parents if we could test it and we did. But coming to the conclusion that it would work wasn’t good enough...we wanted to find out why it happens and would it work on other sodas.

Discovering and increasing knowledge based on facts about how the world works. Science is watching Discovery channel on topics like global warming and effects of Hurricane Katrina on the coastal shores of Louisiana. Did you know that there is an island 30 miles out at sea that lost all of its mangroves due to the hurricane? Did you know that it takes two men and two full days to plan 20 mangroves? However, a regular person came up with a creative idea - let go of mangrove seeds from a helicopter in order to plant 150,000 mangroves over the whole coastal shelf in one day.

Discovering how to conduct experiments including creating stable environments where you can do your discovery and document your findings. I love the network show Dexter. While I know it is only a TV show, it also tells the importance of having the right environment to completing experiments. Things like temperature, humidity, moods can alter the results of an experiment. Science is creating an environment where you can feel confident in the results of your experiment.

Discovering how to research and collect data in order to learn how different things work. While I have never dissected any living thing, I do enjoy learning through hands on application. For example, taking apart a computer or learning to play golf and improving my swing by better understanding how my body moves.

Discovering what is true, discovering and increasing knowledge, discovering how to conduct experiments, and discovering how to research, are the biggest parts of science to me. To me knowledge is gained through discovery and you have to do something first hand to really understand it.

The Rope Rocket by Brandon

Awesome and scary too, I was the third one to jump. Actually it wasn’t really a jump, a fall maybe, but it didn’t really matter. What I’m talking about is a ride at the Alliance Redwoods Science Camp, called the Rope Rocket. It’s so hard to describe, but I’ll do my best.

As soon as I saw it I wanted to go, but I wasn’t fast enough. It was excruciating watching the others going and having so much fun, and then it was my turn. When I went up into the tree I was nervous and excited. There was a lady waiting for me at the top of the tree. She put the harness and cords on, and told me to sit on the edge of the tree. Then I panicked.

I started telling her I wanted to get off and standing up, but she just reassured me and told me to sit down every time I did so. “These cables can hold up a bus, now I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure you don’t weigh as much as a bus,” She said. “And I was scared the first time I went too, but in the end it’s all worth it.” So I calmed myself down and told her if I hit the 30lb cables she had strapped onto me, 3 times, she could let go.

1.....2........3! I started falling down faster, the air was escaping me. I couldn’t breathe. Then I went up, hitting a few trees in the process. Back and forth, again and again as if I were on a giant swing it felt so good, the wind rushing against my face. I had lost myself, falling and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. That’s what it’s like to go on the Rope Rocket; awesome, and scary too.

Wasps MIA in the Winter? by Brandon

I asked my mom today why you don't see wasps in winter. She replied in a matter-of-fact one, "Well Brandon, in winter it's too cold for wasps to make their nests. So, they hibernate."

Of course, I laughed because the thought of wasps hibernating was too funny. Afterall, bears hibernate. Not wasps.

She then turned and said, "Of course, some people believe that because it is so cold that they pick up their wasp families and homes and migrate to Argentina." She continued quite seriously, "In Argentina, they stay up all night dancing the salsa and drinking pitchers of Margeritas. After a few Margeritas, they land in the tourists salsa. Wasps don't make for a good ingredient for salsa, but it keeps them warm. Many a wasp has lost his/her life drowing in a good Argentinian salsa. That is why many Argentinian salsa producers have gone out of business. Yes, even many Mexican restaurants have been sued from serving wasp butts to their customers."

She cleared her throat and continued, "So, Brandon, there are two stories about wasps not being around in winter. Which do you believe is true?"

I looked at my mom speechless, because all I could think of was why would Mexican restaurants be serving Argentitian salsa? Next time, I go to Taco Bell, I would surely ask for the Argentinian salsa for my Nachos Bell Grande to look for wasp parts.....

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The Skeleton Key by Brandon

The day we moved into our new house little did I know that day would change my life forever.
That key had more power than I could ever imagine.
Maybe if I had dropped it right then, all of it never would have happened but its to late now, much to late.
“Hey Mom, Dad, I’m going to explore the house. Ok?”
“Ok.” My mom shouted back as I ran up the stairs breezing past her to explore my new house.
So many rooms to choose from. As I got to the top of the stairs, I counted the doors. Twelve to be precise! I looked into each one. Long rooms, square rooms, rooms with windows, rooms without. Rooms with closets so big that they could be rooms. Finally I had exhausted my search of rooms and decided on the one in the corner. So many rooms in our new house, my brothers would not have trouble finding ones they wanted.
As I was running back down the stairs I slipped on something. I looked down at the ground. There lying on the stair was a key, but not just an ordinary key, an old fashioned key with a skeleton on the top of it. I had found a skeleton key.
“Why had I not seen it before?” I thought to myself. “I know! It belongs to one of the rooms.”
As I spun around, hoping it was the door key of the room I had chosen, a new door caught my eye. It was not a room that I had explored already.
Counting the doors, I found that now this floor had thirteen rooms.
“How strange,” I thought to myself, “that I could miss such a funky looking door!”
I walked over to the door. It was all black except with a white streak through the middle.
I stuck the key in. It turned. The door opened ever so slightly.
“Hello?” I whispered as I slowly entered the room.
I had just decided to go back and grab a flashlight, when the door slammed behind me, and all the light seemed to disappear from sight.
I stood still. A million eyes felt like they were watching me. I was not alone.
I turned to walk back to the door, but the door I could not find. In fact, I couldn’t even find a wall.
Panicked, I spoke out in a whisper.
“Hello?” There was no answer.
Irritated and scared, I yelled out into the darkness.
“This is not funny!”
“Help!” A scream came from the darkness followed by an agonizing cry of pain.
The cry of pain echoed in my mind.
I walked forward and soon I saw light.
It became clear that it was a bulb hanging from the ceiling.
I looked around and saw two undeads coming towards me. I froze. They advanced coming closer and closer to me.
By the time I unfroze, they were so close I could spell their rotting skin and see bugs crawling in and out of their open flesh.
I ran away from them. I didn’t stop running until I realized I was in another room. Finding a door, I quickly shut it cutting off four fingers of the undeads in the process. As I looked down and saw the fingers hopping on the floor, I realized I could not see the floor. What I saw instead were dead bodies and they were covering the entire floor. But there was not blood, no punctures, only a horrifying look on each of their faces.
“How?” I wondered.
Then it came to me. They had been scared to death! They had died of heart attacks. But what had scared them to death?
It would have to wait. I knew I needed to get out of this room and get out now.
I saw a small door on the right side of the room. Walking over bodies, so many bodies, I waded towards the door.
Coming to it, I noticed it required a key. I pulled the key out of my pocket and stuck the key into the lock on the door.
As I pulled open the door, relief overwhelmed me as I began to walk into the corner room. The room I had chosen for my bedroom. I began to enter the room as a huge blue monster came from behind me. Lunging at me, trying to grab my sweatshirt, I quickly ran into room and shut the door.
“That’s what killed them,” I thought to myself.
“Mom, Dad.” I screamed, “Where are you?”
My mom’s voice muffled came to me. I could not understand what she was saying.
“Mom?” I turned around to look in the direction of her voice. It was coming from behind the door.
“Get out of the house Chuck!” Her voice now sharp and full of fear shoot out from behind the door.
I turned to run, but was caught by a large blue hand coming from the door.
As it pulled me into the room, my mind was full of regret.
“Why did I have to pick up the key?”