Off-topic: Heath anniversary

I apologize to the readers who come here for food-related coverage related to the Sun's Taste page. My assignment has changed at the paper in recent months, and I'm back to reporting news and features in the region. As such, from time to time, my blog posts might reflect those events.

Walking into Heath High School this morning brought back memories of another gray Monday morning after Thanksgiving 11 years ago. A chill from the wind and snowflakes ran through my arms and hands as I opened the door to the lobby where Michael Carneal shot three girls - Nicole Hadley, Kayce Steger and Jessica James -- at the end of an early morning prayer circle on Dec. 1, 1997. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to the scene of the shooting that morning. My editors posted me at Lourdes hospital where I waited for information about the teens who were brought there after the shooting.

Later that afternoon, after sunshine penetrated the clouds, I had to take a yearbook back out to the school to ask for help in identifying Carneal's picture.

Eleven years later in the Heath auditorium, I listened as Darrell Scott told teens, many of whom were in elementary or preschool for the Heath shooting, about the day when his daughter Rachel was shot and killed outside Columbine High School in Colorado. He stood perfectly still as the images from the news coverage flashed on the screen behind him. I've covered plenty of assemblies before, and rarely do the students sit still for an hour, especially middle school students. This time, though, the kids couldn't take their eyes off the screen or their ears off Scott's words. His message was simple -- acts of kindness can touch lives. In a way, it was like the lessons that our parents taught us: practice the Golden Rule.

Jennifer Frazier was a kindergarten student at Heath Elementary at the time of the Heath shooting. She remembered exactly what she was wearing that day -- blue jeans, a purple turtleneck and a matching bow -- as she waited for her parents to take her to school. Instead, they came into the room and told her that something bad had happened at the high school and tried their best to explain a shooting to a young girl. Eleven years later, Frazier is among the high school students who want to accept Rachel's Challenge of kindness as a tool to solve problems and make their worlds better. Rachel's Challenge is such a simple, yet powerful, message: be kind to others and expect the best for yourself and for others.

I hope Rachel's Challenge will take hold in our local schools as a supplement to the standards parents try to teach at home. Just a child holding a door open for another child or a student taking time to talk to the new kid can make a difference. Darrell Scott told of Rachel's kindness to a young man with disabilities. Because she took the time to express kindness instead of criticism or name calling, the young man decided not to commit suicide.

Darrell Scott told me that he wishes he didn't have to travel to schools and give his presentation. But he does and does it quite well. Rachel's life may have been cut short, but her legacy can touch an entire generation and make our children better citizens for tomorrow.