It’s Monday afternoon. I am at work. The phone rings. The caller ID says “Glenview Public Library.”
That’s weird, I think. I had learned the previous weekend that we were unable to access some digital services at our library. I had left them a voicemail. I spoke to somebody from the library on Monday morning. The issue had been resolved. Someone else must have rechecked the voicemail, I think, and not know that it was no longer an issue. But it wasn’t that.
After introducing herself, the caller says, “Mr. Raina, I am calling from the youth services department at the library. I want you to know that your daughter Gaur has won first prize in the ‘Character Counts! in Glenview’ poster contest. Congratulations!”
“Gauri’s art was the winner from over sixty entries in the 3rd and 4th-grade category,” she adds, “You will get an email about this later, but I wanted to make sure you heard from us first.”
Character Counts! is a program that provides training and practical character education strategies to schools and communities worldwide. The “Character Counts! in Glenview” happens every year soon after school begins in September. Students from kindergarten through fourth grades compete to create 8 1/2 x 11-inch posters of original artwork that best represent how good character is displayed through one or more of the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. The kids can use crayons, markers, or colored pencils to make their art.
This is the third time that Gauri’s art has been recognized outside the family itself. The first time, her art was chosen as the back cover of her first-grade yearbook. It made the front cover of her second-grade yearbook. And now this. First prize out of over 60 entries in her grade category. My late wife Uzma would have been very proud of our daughter. Uzma had a natural aptitude and talent for art, both of which she passed on to Gauri before cancer took her.
Gauri chose colored pencils as her medium. As she worked on her art, we had multiple conversations about the six pillars of character and what it means to have each of those qualities. Besides listing those pillars on the balloons in her drawing, she says she illustrated caring, responsibility, and respect through subjects’ actions and words. Those examples aren’t hard to find.
I began writing this post on Tuesday and expected to finish it by the next evening. But then Wednesday, Jan 6, happened. It became hard to focus my mind on anything but the insurrection instigated by a president and enabled by almost 150 members of his party in the house and the senate. As I turned my attention back to this post, I wondered if the insurrection would have happened if all lawmakers and elected officials were required to participate in a Character Counts! Contest every year. If, every year, they reflected on those six pillars of character…
If only.
[Featured photo: Original Art “Character Counts” by Gauri Raina, colored pencils, 2020. Used with artist’s permission.]
How amazing for your daughter! Congratulations to her. I also agree with you, if others were more concerned with their character than their pocketbooks or their followers or their ego, we’d have a different world.