This character education mini-lesson is not intended to be a service learning lesson or to meet the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice. The character education units will be most effective when taught in conjunction with a student-designed service project that provides a real world setting in which students can develop and practice good character and leadership skills.  For ideas and suggestions for organizing service events go to generationon.org.

Anticipatory Set

Read the following quote by Charles F. Kettering: "Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down." Tell the students that Charles Kettering was an inventor with over 300 patents. He had poor eyesight that set him back several times, but he never let that be a barrier to him. He always pursued his personal best and accomplished great things through perseverance [not giving up]. Ask the students what Mr. Kettering's quote tells them about working on big issues like hunger and global warming? Discuss.

• Read the following or have a student read it to the class:
  • T.S. Eliot wrote, “For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” Scholars of T.S. Eliot’s work interpret this to mean that while we may not be sure our actions will have any positive effect, it does not give us license to do nothing. We should avoid assessing our actions in terms of immediate or short-term outcomes. To do so only invites frustration, burnout, and the hollow feeling that we may have not made a difference. While the immediate results of any action and how others might respond to it are important, it is more often the long-term results that should be the judge of the things we try to do to make difference.
• Discuss the relevance T.S. Eliot’s quote or Kettering's quote has for the students as they consider doing their personal best to address a need in the long term. Is taking the “long look” an easy thing to do when one is trying to make a difference?
• Tell the students that a famous advertiser encouraged viewers to “Just Do It.” Ask them the following questions: In what ways are Kettering's and T.S. Eliot’s quotes and the “Just Do It” commercial alike? Different?  What should we discuss with our peers to remind ourselves that doing nothing is not a good choice?
• Have the students write in their character education journals to reflect on the importance of perseverance and doing personal best in order to make a difference in the long term.