Lessons from a 4th grader

Sometimes all it takes is a little contrast to put things in proper perspective.

Last week Authentic Patriotism won a silver medal in the Nautilus Book Awards. (You can hear more about that on my site’s news pages.) On the same day I found out, I received an email that put this award, while a thrill, in a different context.

The email came from Logan Ratzlaff, who I met last year when I gave a series of talks in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia. His 3rd grade teacher, Beth Tice, had taught a class on the importance of sanitary water for maintaining human health. It’s a massive global issue, with one billion people routinely lacking safe drinking water. The negative impact on their health, quality of life and longevity is incalulable.

Logan decided to do something about it. He spent nearly all of his 4th grade year raising awareness and raising money. His goal was $5,000, collected 25 cents at a time.

Logan’s email last week brought the news that the campaign total was $6,073, which will enable 303 people to receive healthy water. His fund will go to Charity Water (www.charitywater.org), an organization whose operational costs are underwritten by private donors — so every penny Logan raised will actually help people.

Logan, before reaching 5th grade, has provided an excellent example of what one determined person can accomplish on others’ behalf. I’m happy that my book praising these values has won some recognition. But I’m happier to know authentic patriots like Logan Ratzlaff.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 19th, 2011 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Innovators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.