“Class, this is Sky Williams, your new classmate,” said Mrs. Bolt. “I want you to be very nice to her. She is new to this school and the community.” Brave shouted, “Miss, Bad Man don’t talk to trash. We dump trash.” “Enough!” shouted Mrs. Bolt as she tried to quiet the disruptive class.

No one wanted Sky to sit beside them. She was smelly, her uniform always dirty, and she itched a lot. She had no friends and was often seen talking to herself.

During the lesson on heroes in Social Studies, Mrs. Bolt wrote the words of Paul Shane Spear to introduce her lesson. “As one person, I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person.” Hope wrote down the quote and was inspired to “light up” the lives of her classmates one life at a time. During lunchtime, she went into the bathroom and heard sobs. It was Sky. She hugged her and dried her tears. Sky felt comfortable to share with Hope the death of her mother and the struggles of her father to find a job. Hope invited her home to have a bath and a freshly cooked meal. She shared with her some of her clothes, school supplies, and snacks. Hope’s acts of kindness began a friendship between both girls. Every day she brought lunch for Sky and helped her with her schoolwork. Sky transformed from a shy, glum student into a confident girl. The class now accepted her, except Brave. He saw her as the perfect target to bully, and once again proved the shell of a boy that he was.

Both Sky and Hope sat under the palm tree in the schoolyard enjoying their lunch. Brave walked maliciously to Sky, ripped the gold watch from her hand and trampled on it. Sky burst into tears. The watch was the only thing she had to remind her of her mom. While Sky sat on the ground in disbelief, trying to fix the broken watch, Hope firmly gripped Brave and quizzically asked, “Do you know what is respect?” “No Smarty Pants. Care to share what’s respect?” he asked jeeringly. “Well it’s when you show by your behavior that you think someone or something is important,” responded Hope.

“You can tell that to my Dad who comes in every night drunk and slaps my mom and me across the face.” Brave looked around and saw everyone staring at him as the tears streamed down his face.  Hope held his hands and said in a calm voice, “Maybe your dad doesn’t think he is important in your lives, so show and tell him that he is.”

Hope and Sky helped him to write little notes to his dad to reaffirm his importance. Brave’s dad gradually transformed and quit his alcohol addiction. This impacted Brave, who started to show respect to his peers.

With all the excitement, Hope did not realize Sky was not with her until she got to the school’s gate. She went back to the classroom and found Sky sitting in deep thought. She interrupted her, “Sky, aren’t you going to share the great news with your father?” “Certainly,” smiled Sky, “Hope, you are a candle that consumes itself to light the way for others.”