Minnesota Prairie Roots

Rachel Scott, the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge.

SWAT TEAMS pushed toward the school. Students fled. Parents checked lists for students’ names. Mothers embraced sons and daughters. Tears fell.

I watched as the tragic scene unfolded Tuesday night in the Faribault High School Performing Arts Center during a presentation of Rachel’s Challenge. The non-profit, through video footage and a speaker, shared the story of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that left 12 students and one teacher dead and 27 wounded in 22 minutes. Rachel Scott, 17, was the first killed, as she sat outside eating lunch.

Her story inspired formation of Rachel’s Challenge, now the largest school assembly program in the country. The program reverberates with the message to treat others with kindness, just as Rachel did.

“People will never know how far a little kindness can go,” Rachel wrote in a “My Ethics, My Codes of Life” essay she penned for a high school class shortly before her April 20 death. She urged others to begin a chain reaction by showing kindness and compassion to others.

This teen, who befriended others, chose Anne Frank as her role model, kept journals and expected to die young, has significantly impacted the world, just as she predicted. At age 13, Rachel traced her handprints on the back of a dresser and wrote: “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of hearts.”

Rachel Joy Scott touched my heart Tuesday night. And judging from the attentive audience, some of whom were wiping tears from their eyes like me, she touched many hearts.

Owatonna native Sarah Branion was so inspired by Rachel’s message that she decided to dedicate her life to Rachel’s Challenge, she told audience members. She presented Tuesday evening’s program, one that included five challenges.

Tagged as “Rachel’s Challenges,” Branion encouraged attendees to:

1) ELIMINATE PREJUDICES in your heart. Look for the best in others. Give people three chances before judging or labeling them.

The back of Rachel's last journal, found in her backpack. She wrote on the cover: "I won't be labeled as average."

2) DARE TO DREAM. Write down your goals and keep a journal for 30 days, leaving a legacy for your family. (Rachel left six journals for her family.)

3) CHOOSE POSITIVE INFLUENCES. Input determines output.

4) Use KIND WORDS. Little acts of kindness can make a huge difference in the lives of others.

5) START A CHAIN REACTION of love, kindness and compassion in your family and community.

As I contemplated those five challenges, I also considered the words of Craig Scott, Rachel’s brother. He was with his friends, Matt and Isaiah, in the school library, where most of the Columbine students died. Isaiah, one of only a few black students in an all-white school, was taunted with racial slurs before he was killed. Craig recalled Isaiah’s final words: “I wanna see my mom.”

Rachel’s first challenge: Eliminate prejudices in your heart.

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(For more information about Rachel’s Challenge, go to http://rachelschallenge.org. Thank you to the Faribault Rotary Club for bringing this powerful and inspiring program to Faribault. Images are courtesy of Rachel’s Challenge.)

A.M. (Annie Mary) sends greetings each October.

HALLOWEEN BRINGS the macabre, the horrible, the frightening.

And for me, it also brings a message from Annie Mary Twente, or someone impersonating her. As legend goes, the 6-year-old fell into a coma and was buried alive in 1886 in Albin Township near Hanska. For the complete story, go to www.minnesotamoments.com and read blogs I posted there on Oct. 30 and 31, 2008.

For years and years and years, I’ve received a Halloween greeting card from the ghost of Annie Mary. This year was no exception, except for the card’s two-day late arrival.

As always, the envelope bore no return address, only the initials “A.M.”

As always, the envelope bore a postmark from my hometown of Vesta.

Inside this witch-themed card, the little ghost girl signed her name and the chilling message, “I MISS YOU!” I don’t know why those words send shivers tingling down my spine, but they do. It’s as if Annie Mary is taunting me, in the sing-song chant of a child: “I MISS YOU! I MISS YOU! I MISS YOU! Na-na-na-na!”

I suppose if I considered this rationally, I would realize how very nice of Annie Mary to remember me on Halloween. But I can’t get past the possibility that she is trying to haunt me, to scare me, to….

Despite my concern over the intended meaning of A.M’s Halloween greeting, at least I have not been the recipient of correspondence from Norman Bates, the psychotic owner of the Bates Motel. My cousin Dawn tells me of years past when Norman contacted her, even sent dead box elder bugs. She is thankful, she says, that he has forgotten her and moved on.

I have five words of advice, Dawn. Don’t let down your guard.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Recipients of "Friday flowers" will receive virtual flowers, like these coneflowers in my garden, via a Minnesota Prairie Roots post each Friday.

WEDNESDAY MARKS the deadline for submitting nominees as possible recipients of virtual “Friday flowers,” a new Minnesota Prairie Roots feature.

Each Friday, I will post the names (first only, in most cases) of individuals, businesses and/or organizations that are deserving of “Friday flowers.” See my Oct. 30 “Friday flowers” post for examples and a more detailed explanation.

Perhaps you know of someone going through a tough time. Offer your encouragement via “Friday flowers.” Has a business or individual gone the extra mile? Share your gratitude. Look for the positive in those around you and publicly show your appreciation via Minnesota Prairie Roots.

To suggest a name for consideration, email me or submit a comment on this post. My blogging software allows me to review all comments. I can simply pull the necessary “Friday flowers” information, save the info for my weekly post and delete your comment.

All submissions should include a sentence or two explaining why you nominated this person, business or organization. Please, only one submission per week. I reserve the right to edit and/or decline requests.

Check back on Friday to see who will receive this week’s virtual “Friday flowers.”

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Jack-o-lanterns cozy together at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf annual Scarecrow Fest.

EVERY OCTOBER, for as many years as I can remember, my family has driven across the viaduct to the east side of Faribault to view the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf Scarecrow Fest. Fall simply would not be fall without this event.

So Saturday my husband and I, minus the kids because two are grown and the other is a teenager, trek across town to the MSAD campus.

When I step from the van, I notice something I have not previously seen. How could I have missed the handprints? But they are here, a long row of handprints embedded curbside in the cement. These have nothing to do with the fest, but I pause before aiming toward the scarecrows.

Handprints in the sidewalk at MSAD.

Ever have a bad hair day like this student in "MSAD Ghost Scare?"

As Randy jots down information about the scarecrow displays, I search for the unique, the interesting, the artsy, the frightening—anything that may make for an interesting photo.

Some scarecrows make me smile, even laugh out loud, while others produce an “I’m not photographing that, it’s too scary” reaction. Halfway through our walk, our fingers are freezing and we are wishing we had dressed for the cold, brisk wind that sweeps across this campus. You would think we would learn. Every year we complain that we are cold.

As we walk, we observe how the winds have ravaged some of the displays. We guess that vandals have destroyed a few too.

And then, as we round the bend by the softball diamond, the cold-nipped fingers, the biting wind are forgotten. I discover candy inside a plastic pumpkin. Deb Kasper and her fourth hour Faribault High School American Sign Language students have left Snickers bars, Tootsie Pop suckers and other treats.

I grab a Snickers, not thinking to also take one for my husband. Back in the van, I rip off the wrapper and stuff the bite-sized piece into my mouth. But instead of biting into smooth chocolate and creamy caramel, I chomp into a chunk of weather-hardened candy.

My surprised reaction elicits laughter from Randy, whom I can almost hear thinking, “that’s what you get for forgetting me.”

So, before he can toss a barb, I am back at the plastic pumpkin snatching a Snickers bar for him, and another for myself. Snickers, even if half-frozen, still taste pretty darned good.

So Deb Kasper and students, your chocolate bribery worked. I award you the Woman’s Choice Award in the 16^th annual MSAD Scarecrow Fest.

Friendly Casper greets visitors at the award-winning display where I discovered chocolate.

This "Halloween witch" won a blue ribbon for the ECE class.

Remember when the house landed on the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz? Look at these legs.

These darling ghosts won my heart at the "Ring around the ghosty" display. Arent' they cute?

Now here's a dog I could love in the "Old lady escaping a dog" display.

Check back for more Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf Scarecrow photos in a future Minnesota Prairie Roots blog post.

© Copyright 2009 Audrey Kletscher Helbling