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A Child Called "It"

One September day in Daly City, California, Steven Ziegler began his career at the Thomas Edison School. He saw David Pelzer enter his fifth grade homeroom class - definitely not the most likely to succeed. He stunk, seemed to pay no attention to his clothes or personal hygiene, and was in trouble with the administration for stealing from other kids' lunch boxes. Many teachers would have written him off as a loser and concentrated on the bright and beautiful kids. But not Ziegler.

"I was naive back then," said Ziegler, "but I was blessed with a sensitivity that told me there was something terribly wrong in David's life."

Questioning the school nurse, Ziegler was filled in on David's home situation. David's nightmare began when he was young, as his mother's behavior became more and more erratic, especially after consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. She began having him search for things all around the house and not tell him what he was searching for, but he would be beaten if he couldn't find the object she wanted. His mother began withholding food from Dave as a punishment for perceived "bad" behavior. This was so bad that one time food was withheld for over ten days.

School was just another place for pain and heartache for David until a teacher saw more than the picked on, tattered, unlovely child that came to his classroom every day. Ziegler made a special effort to reach out Dave, even encouraging him to name the school paper.

Describing the day that his entry won the contest at school, Dave said, "...Mr. Ziegler took me aside and told me how proud he was that my title won. I soaked it up like a sponge. I hadn't been told anything positive for so long that I nearly cried."

Mr. Ziegler did more than provide love to David Pelzer. He also succeeded in having him removed from his abusive home. In all likelihood, this kindness, more than any other, probably saved David Pelzer's life.

In his 1995 book, Dave Pelzer described what it felt like to be an abused child. When the book, "A Child Called 'It'" hit the shelves, it shocked the nation. The scenes described in the book seemed unbelievable, but eventually became the basis for the third worst case of child abuse ever prosecuted in the State of California.

David Pelzer had attended this same school since Kindergarten. He'd attend school with a plethora of unexplainable bruises, cuts and burns.

It took a brand new teacher to see David Pelzer as Jesus saw him. A boy who desperately needed saving and was worth the effort.

Who Could Tame George Foreman?

Who Could Tame George Foreman?
(Or, Security Guards, Hippies, Lunch Room Ladies and Other Life-Changers)

Younger people may know his name from advertisements for the George Foreman Grill. Older folks remember him as one of the greatest boxers of all time. In his remarkable lifetime record, he fought 81 times, winning 76 times, 68 of them by a knock out.(1)

At age 19, he fought his way to an Olympic gold medal. In his early 20's, he defeated the seemingly invincible Joe Frazier, knocking him down six times in four rounds to become the heavyweight champion of the world. In his first fight to defend his title, he knocked out his opponent in under a minute, the fastest-ever knockout for a heavyweight championship bout.

Later in life, he needed to raise money for his youth center and decided to show everyone that middle-aged men weren't over the hill. Few believed that he could fight seriously against younger fighters, but he stunned the world by winning fight after fight and finally knocking out the reigning champ at age 45.

Yet, his incredible career may have never gotten off the ground had a few people not believed in him. You see, it wasn't easy to believe in George as a youth. He grew up in a poor home in a poor neighborhood and lived by the law of the jungle, constantly getting into fights to try to prove himself. To get money, he'd mug people on the streets. His friends were so bad that he thought of himself as one of the good boys. After all, he never knifed any of his victims. But anyone who looked at him wrong had better run away fast, or they'd get a taste of the Foreman fist. He was was a big bully with a terrible temper.(2)

Fortunately, George ran across people who cared. As a teenager, he moved from Texas to Oregon with the Job Corps, a government program to give young people a chance to work and learn a trade. While he was there, Doc Broadus, who worked with security, saw potential in him as a boxer and helped him to begin training. A fellow Job Corp worker, a hippie from Washington state, shared his Bob Dylan music with George, encouraging him to think about the lyrics, exercise his mind with reading, and to learn to engage people with his words rather than his fists. For the first time, George fell in love with reading, opening his mind to new worlds.(3)

Then there was Mrs. Moon, the lunchroom lady. You might think, "What kind of influence could a lunch-room lady have on a mean, tough bully? Surely only a tough coach could get through to a person like him." But you see, George had grown up hungry. His mother was so poor that she couldn't afford to give her children enough food. He was too embarrassed to tell anyone and ask for a handout. So back during his school days, he would often blow air into his brown paper sack so that other students would think he had something to eat. If the sack held anything, it might be a mayonnaise sandwich.

So you can see why food was important to George. And the lunch lady controlled the food. So when she told him to straighten up, he listened. She noticed what foods George liked and scooped out a bit extra into his plate. She smiled at him and talked to him. She even invited George home to eat with her family, once a month, every month  for six months.How did this make him feel? According to George,

"Mrs. Moon just made me feel that I was special. She liked me for me. ... Her words echoed in my ears: 'You watch that temper.' The way she said it, smiling and cheerful, I believed she knew something I didn't. And I wanted to do as she said. Most of all, I wanted to please her." (4)

In the final paragraphs of his autobiography, after his huge early success in boxing, establishing a youth center to help young people, and regaining his title late in life, he looked back to remember Mrs. Moon:

"As vividly as if it happened the day before, I remembered the look on Mrs. Moon's face that first time I passed through the lunch line at the Oregon Job Corps center. She smiled at me. That was the moment I decided I was special."(5)

So never say, "I'm just a science nerd" or "Nobody cares what I think of them." You never know who's waiting for someone, anyone, to show that they care. A few caring students or staff could be inspiring the next George Foreman or Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King. Never underestimate the power of kindness.

Discussion Questions

1) Why do you think George was always getting into fights in school? 
2) What would you have thought of George had you been in school with him?
3) Why do we often see people like George as total losers?
4) Do you think the people who cared about George knew what an impact they were having?
5) How would we relate to people differently if we saw their potential more than their rough spots?
6) In your mind, think of some people you could be nice to today.
 
Sources

1) Wikipedia on George Foreman.
2) George Foreman and Joel Engel, By George: The Autobiography of George Foreman (Villard Books, New York: 1995) pp. 3-24.
3) Ibid., pp. 25-41.
4) Ibid., pp. 27-29.
5) Ibid., p. 262.
(Copyright September, 2007. Written by Steve Miller.)

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