It wasn’t graffiti, alcohol, drugs or bullying—no, when we asked our future leaders in the Tierra Vida community what the biggest problem was, we learned it was a cat.
On the one hand, it felt pretty great to know that the youth of our community feel safe and cared for—so much that they felt that the same care should be shown to a homless pet in their community that wasn’t receiving that level of care.
On the other hand, it still presented a problem. We were in the process of trying to seed Servant Leadership into the youth here at Tierra Vida, and this was a chance to empower them to solve their most pressing issue in the community.
One of the students, who had brought the cat to the neighborhood as an act of charity, was in the group, and at first he felt attacked. However, after a bit of discussion, he realized that his peers were only concerned for the well being of the cat that no one in the community was caring for.
After some brief reflection, the student recognized that the best course of action for the cat would be to put it up for adoption. With a little help, the cat was taken to the shelter to find a new home, and the community’s biggest problem (from the perspective of the students) was solved.
