STORY 3
KIDS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE: A TEEN STORYTherapeutic Characteristics
Problems Addressed
■ Feeling helpless
■ Feeling powerless
■ Seeing what you can’t do
■ Having goals too high or too distantResources Developed
■ Appreciating what you have
■ Caring for others
■ Looking for solutions
■ Sharing what you have
■ Believing in your abilities
■ Building resources step-by-stepOutcomes Offered
■ The joy of caring
■ Discovery of your own abilities
■ The values of community
■ The rewards of kindness
You know, sometimes when you are a kid, it is easy to feel pretty helpless or powerless. Indeed,
if you stop and think about it, there are so many things that you can’t do. You can’t stay up as late as
your bigger brother or sister. You can’t play sports as well as your football or basketball heroes. You
can’t do some of the stunts that other kids do at the skate park. You can’t get the results at school that
your parents seem to expect that you should. Sometimes it is hard to see that you even have the po-
tential to develop any of these abilities. How could you ever get to be a league football player when
you fumble every time you try to pick up the ball? What you want to achieve may seem such a long
way in the future that it feels you will never reach it.
Well, I once heard an inspiring story—a true story, I believe—about a boy named Trevor. It
shows there are little things kids can do that make a big difference. One night Trevor was doing what
a lot of other 13-year-old kids would be doing: He was watching TV. On the news he saw a story
about some homeless people sleeping out in the cold on the streets, in a downtown area of Philadel-
phia where he lived. Trevor had never really stopped to think how fortunate he was to live in a fairly
well-to-do suburb of the same city. The story of the homeless people touched his heart and he be-
gan to wonder what he could do to help these people.
It might have been easy for Trevor to forget about it. There are so many sad stories that you see
on TV at times. This could have been just another that he ignored.
Tr evor also might have thought, Well, what can I do about it? I’m just a kid, but he didn’t. Instead
Enriching Learning 49
ENRICHING LEARNING