Editorial: Good news comes in threes

It is interesting how often a week’s news develops a common theme when it is laid out ready for print. This week we learned about three completely different things, all of which had one thing in common. The first was a wallet with money that was turned in intact. The second was a local musician who wrote and recorded a song. The third was someone raising money for the homeless.

Now it would be easy in our cynical ways to say, “So what. People record songs every day. People donate to the homeless every day. Surely there are a few honest folk left who would turn in a wallet full of money.” And the cynical person would be right. But here’s what makes the three unrelated news events remarkable, at least to our eyes. All three people were nine-year-old girls.

Recently, nine-year-old Notre Dame student Hayley Deveau was tobogganing near the ravine with some other children when she found a wallet with, as it was discovered later, more than $100 in it. Miss Deveau took the wallet to some adults, in this case Councillor David Pattison and his wife. They in turn handed the wallet to an RCMP officer who was able to get it back to its rightful owner. What a fine example this Grade 4 student has set for her classmates and all of us.

But she is not the only newsmaker doing good for others. Camilla School student Brooke Bonin, also nine, is continuing her efforts to raise money for the Hope Mission in Edmonton to do her part to make sure the homeless have food to eat. Before Christmas Miss Bonin had raised nearly $5,000, monies turned over on the last day of school. But with a new year unfolded and having had the opportunity to feed the homeless a hot meal, Miss Bonin is more determined than ever to continue her campaign to help. What lessons could we adults involved in community volunteerism learn from this child with respect to how to rally the troops to a worthy cause?

Not all the nine-year-old newsmakers are involved in returning money or raising money. One Morinville youth has been involved in raising spirits. Alyssa Lincez recently took a bad day and turned it into an inspirational song that is a reminder to children and adult alike that no matter how much bad the world slings at us, family is there to lift us back up again. Miss Lincez song, which she wrote in the span of three music lessons, was recently recorded at Smith Music in Morinville with full musical accompaniment. A pretty remarkable accomplishment for a student who had been taking drum lessons and just decided she’d like to try singing. What lesson could we adults all learn about just doing the things we always wanted to try?

We tip our hat to all three of these young ladies, not only for what they have done, but for the example they have set for other youth and for us all.

-SD

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3 Comments

  1. Nice to read good news stories. These three young ladies teach us (adults) lessons in honesty, sharing, giving, understanding, caring, commitment, friendship and I could go on. The future is bright for Alyssa, Brooke and Hayley. These future leaders will make the community a better place for all. Thanks girls.

  2. Wow, three wonderful, good news stories. Well done to you Stephen for writing about them and very well done to these three young ladies. I might be dating myself, but like the Who said: The kids are alright!

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