During my senior year of high school I tried to start a school newspaper. I found out from my English teacher, Mr. Crump, that there hadn’t been one for a number of years after a student wrote some negative things about a teacher. I thought it was a shame that we didn’t have a school paper. Mr. Crump said that if I wanted to be the editor he’d support me in bringing back a student newspaper; he would act as an adviser. This was my chance to start something special and leave my mark in the world; at least my mark on Whitnall High School.
We put the word out and soon had a staff of around 10 people ready to start a school paper. We met to talk about what we wanted the paper to be, how we’d sell ads to local businesses to pay for it, and I even found another school in our conference willing to let us print our paper there. It was going perfectly. I could already see the first edition.
We were met with resistance from the school district right off the bat. Even after I met with the Superintendent, we were kept waiting. There was always some additional piece of information he wanted. Each time we supplied it, we thought that was it. The last holdup was that he felt the paper should be printed at our school (we wouldn’t have to sell ads), but the school district would be in charge of it and have the final say over the content. I knew what that meant and I didn’t want to compromise what the paper was going to be.
Students had written articles and poems, others knew businesses ready to buy ads for the paper, other students were ready to submit their photography skills. But, after so much waiting I finally stopped trying at the end of March. I spent six months trying to get a paper started and never got anywhere. I knew it wasn’t going to happen since I was graduating in June. The district never gave us permission to start. They waited us out.
I felt badly for everyone who had committed their time and energy to the paper. Sadly, I found out how politics work. When someone with power doesn’t want to give you permission to do something, they won’t. The district was never going to support a student run paper. What I know now is that we should have gone underground and done it without the district’s permission. We had the resources to do it; we had staff, we had stories, we had a place that would allow us to print it. It was all there.
The lesson is this, if you want to do something, do it yourself. Don’t wait for permission. If you want it bad enough you will find a way. If only I had known then what I know now. Gatekeepers are disappearing and there’s more opportunity to do something without having to get permission today than there was when I was a senior in high school. So, whatever you feel is in your heart to do, go do it. The world is waiting for your gift.
Have you ever given yourself permission to do something? How did it turn out?
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