Week 2 Story: Harriet's Generosity
Harriet's Generosity
There were four friends who worked in a nonprofit, called Education First, that provides school supplies to underprivileged first graders and elementary schools.
Often the leadership of the nonprofit will ask its employees to contribute supplies as part of their in-house Back-to-School Supply Drive. The employees often have fun with this because they find decorations for classrooms. Some selfless souls even go as far as to pitch in to buy a bigger item like a printer, tablet, computer, or screen. The four friends were new to Education First and wanted to make an impression with their donation, but each of them was struggling to find the right thing to donate.
Three days before the end of the drive, Jackie went to her sister's house for dinner. Her brother-in-law was talking about how he needed to get rid of one of their TVs before they moved into their new house. He could not quite visualize how they were going to fit all of their stuff into one moving truck. He confided that he was having horrible cartoonish dreams, in which the truck exploded as he stuffed the last couch pillow into the truck. Jackie selflessly offered to buy it for $50 so she could donate it to the kids; her brother-in-law jumped at the opportunity. When Jackie got home, she thought to herself, "These tiny first graders don't need this giant TV. It would be better for me to trade this in and get two smaller TVs, spreading the wealth to two classrooms." When she came back from trading the TVs, she thought to herself, "Why should I give both of these to Education First? I work hard for the nonprofit and deserve to reward myself. Donating one TV is generous enough." The next day, she took the TV to work and was praised for her generosity and dedication to the cause for she must have spent a fortune on such a TV. She was content with her decision.
Two days before the end of the drive, Olivia asked her coworkers, "There's a big office supply closet in the nonprofit office, with things we don't use. We should organize it and our offices, donating things that we don't need or use." Her coworkers praised her thoughtfulness and generosity. She was content with her contribution.
One day before the end of the drive, Megan gathered a few things from her house, thinking herself generous for donating some of her worldly possessions. The next day, she donated the items and was praised for her cleverness and generosity. She was content with her work.
On the last day of the drive, Harriet, having read a book about the Buddha recently, thought to herself, "I want to be like the Buddha. No, I want to live like I am the Buddha." Struggling to figure out what this meant for the drive, she waited until the final day to make her contribution. During her lunch break, she had an epiphany, and said allowed to herself, "I don't have any worldly materials to give, but I could give my time to the children." She donated a piece of paper, which contained her plans to volunteer for an after school program every week day for a year. Little did she know that one of the board members read her promise when he made his own donation that fateful day. The board member, Brian, was curious if she would stick to her promise and decided to test her throughout the year. He knew he was the perfect person to do this because Harriet had never met him and did not know his ties to Education First.
On the 146th day, he visited the after school program, and seeing that she was there, questioned one of the other volunteers about Harriet. The volunteer said, "Oh you mean Harriet? The kids love her. We are all astounded by her dedication; she never calls in sick or takes days off." Satisfied by this report, Brian left without making his presence known.
On the 364th day, Brian went to the school and offered Harriet $100,000 and all she had to do was go into the next room to fill out legal documents for the next hour. Harriet said no, and upon further persuasive efforts made by Brian, she explained her reluctance, "I can't leave the kids to fill out forms for the next hour. I promised them my time, and I will not go back on that promise. Now, please sir, leave me to my work." Satisfied by this show of dedication, Brian left.
On the 365th day, Brian went to Harriet while she was working at Education First. He revealed his identity, and praised her for her devotion and generosity towards the children. Wanting to reward her, he talked to the executive director and other board members about using Harriet and her testimony as the new face of Education First. Everyone agreed, having heard her story.
Now, whenever Education First has an event, Harriet's face and story are placed above others on a banner or screen, setting an example of generosity for everyone in the room.
Author's Note
The inspiration for this story is from an Indian origin story of how the Buddha was reborn as a hare. The original story's characters were four animals - Otter, Jackal, Monkey and Hare - and The King of Gods, Sakka, who disguised himself and tested their generosity. I decided to give it a modern twist by placing the story within a nonprofit.
Bibliography: "The Hare that Was not Afraid to Die" from Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920). Web source.
Image Information: Our School by woodleywonderworks. Source: Flickr
There were four friends who worked in a nonprofit, called Education First, that provides school supplies to underprivileged first graders and elementary schools.
Often the leadership of the nonprofit will ask its employees to contribute supplies as part of their in-house Back-to-School Supply Drive. The employees often have fun with this because they find decorations for classrooms. Some selfless souls even go as far as to pitch in to buy a bigger item like a printer, tablet, computer, or screen. The four friends were new to Education First and wanted to make an impression with their donation, but each of them was struggling to find the right thing to donate.
Three days before the end of the drive, Jackie went to her sister's house for dinner. Her brother-in-law was talking about how he needed to get rid of one of their TVs before they moved into their new house. He could not quite visualize how they were going to fit all of their stuff into one moving truck. He confided that he was having horrible cartoonish dreams, in which the truck exploded as he stuffed the last couch pillow into the truck. Jackie selflessly offered to buy it for $50 so she could donate it to the kids; her brother-in-law jumped at the opportunity. When Jackie got home, she thought to herself, "These tiny first graders don't need this giant TV. It would be better for me to trade this in and get two smaller TVs, spreading the wealth to two classrooms." When she came back from trading the TVs, she thought to herself, "Why should I give both of these to Education First? I work hard for the nonprofit and deserve to reward myself. Donating one TV is generous enough." The next day, she took the TV to work and was praised for her generosity and dedication to the cause for she must have spent a fortune on such a TV. She was content with her decision.
Two days before the end of the drive, Olivia asked her coworkers, "There's a big office supply closet in the nonprofit office, with things we don't use. We should organize it and our offices, donating things that we don't need or use." Her coworkers praised her thoughtfulness and generosity. She was content with her contribution.
One day before the end of the drive, Megan gathered a few things from her house, thinking herself generous for donating some of her worldly possessions. The next day, she donated the items and was praised for her cleverness and generosity. She was content with her work.
On the last day of the drive, Harriet, having read a book about the Buddha recently, thought to herself, "I want to be like the Buddha. No, I want to live like I am the Buddha." Struggling to figure out what this meant for the drive, she waited until the final day to make her contribution. During her lunch break, she had an epiphany, and said allowed to herself, "I don't have any worldly materials to give, but I could give my time to the children." She donated a piece of paper, which contained her plans to volunteer for an after school program every week day for a year. Little did she know that one of the board members read her promise when he made his own donation that fateful day. The board member, Brian, was curious if she would stick to her promise and decided to test her throughout the year. He knew he was the perfect person to do this because Harriet had never met him and did not know his ties to Education First.
On the 146th day, he visited the after school program, and seeing that she was there, questioned one of the other volunteers about Harriet. The volunteer said, "Oh you mean Harriet? The kids love her. We are all astounded by her dedication; she never calls in sick or takes days off." Satisfied by this report, Brian left without making his presence known.
On the 364th day, Brian went to the school and offered Harriet $100,000 and all she had to do was go into the next room to fill out legal documents for the next hour. Harriet said no, and upon further persuasive efforts made by Brian, she explained her reluctance, "I can't leave the kids to fill out forms for the next hour. I promised them my time, and I will not go back on that promise. Now, please sir, leave me to my work." Satisfied by this show of dedication, Brian left.
On the 365th day, Brian went to Harriet while she was working at Education First. He revealed his identity, and praised her for her devotion and generosity towards the children. Wanting to reward her, he talked to the executive director and other board members about using Harriet and her testimony as the new face of Education First. Everyone agreed, having heard her story.
Now, whenever Education First has an event, Harriet's face and story are placed above others on a banner or screen, setting an example of generosity for everyone in the room.
Author's Note
The inspiration for this story is from an Indian origin story of how the Buddha was reborn as a hare. The original story's characters were four animals - Otter, Jackal, Monkey and Hare - and The King of Gods, Sakka, who disguised himself and tested their generosity. I decided to give it a modern twist by placing the story within a nonprofit.
Bibliography: "The Hare that Was not Afraid to Die" from Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920). Web source.
Image Information: Our School by woodleywonderworks. Source: Flickr
Hi Karissa! I absolutely love what you did with this story! You took the original plot and created a whole new story. Real world problems like education shortage and school supply declines are counting, but your story inspired me, and probably will inspire others to help education problems in the future. I am very impressed with your ability to create this story!
ReplyDeleteHi Karissa! I really enjoyed reading your story - it was captivating to read and I really liked how there was an underlying lesson about generosity behind it, because the world can definitely use more of that. I also thought it was clever to take the original story and turn it into something that is relevant to modern-day, because I feel like there are a lot of school donation drives happening around us now too. Really well-written!
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