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PLEASE
On one July weekend in 1999, I was hawking tickets for my Rotary
Club's annual hot dog and sausage stand in the foyer of a local
supermarket.
Actually, my Rotarian friends and I were not technically selling
tickets, but asking for $1 donations. In return for each donation, we
would give the giver a ticket redeemable for one $1.50 hot dog or sausage
sandwich at our stand during the following weekend -- a great investment
return of 50% and one which I gladly pointed out.
"Donate a dollar for Rotary youth programs and receive a stand ticket
for a $1.50 hot dog!"
Hundreds of people came through. Some donated a dollar and received a
ticket, others more. Some generous people simply donated, sometimes $5 or
$10 and did not want tickets. I was impressed.
I continued, with my Rotary friends -- our announcing unabated.
Then a group of about 6 to 8 men in farm work clothes entered the
foyer. Living "in the country", I recognized them as Hispanic farm
workers. I knew they were poor by local standards and might not even
understand my pitch. So, I decided just to let them walk by me.
But after they disappeared into the store for their family
necessities, I began to reconsider. I had seen these men toiling in the
fields under the blazing sun of an unusually hot summer. I knew they
needed every dollar. But I also realized that these were men who deserved
the same respect shown to every local citizen, even if that meant putting
up with me! They deserved the chance to donate to a worthy cause, even if
they had little. I had shown them disrespect because I saw them as a
stereotype and thus assumed something!
But what to do? Unlike some languages which I know fairly well, my
Spanish is very weak, and I must work on it. I could never explain in
Spanish.
But I did know two little words.
When part of their group emerged from their meager shopping, I
approached them with those two little words: Por favor. (Please.) I said
nothing more.
Two of the men immediately turned around toward me, and without
speaking, each handed me a dollar -- a dollar that they had earned picking
vegetables under the hot sun. They each accepted the mysterious tickets
but never came to the stand -- they were probably working in the fields.
Upon reflection, how does each of their dollars compare to our other
donations? Based on Western economics -- simply two U.S. dollars. But
based on the toil spent to earn those two dollars, and in the greater order
of things, a substantial amount of money!
My lessons were simple but strong. Do not prejudge or stereotype.
Rather, respect! And never doubt the power of one little word -- please.
-- Vance Agee <VGAgee@...>
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Vance Agee, is a well known school administrator at Lewiston-Porter, a
Western New York high school. He is also the author of previous stories
entitled, Walks in Beauty and Hurtling Through Space.
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