In my journeys the past 12 yeats to the most impoverished neighborhoods of Nashville, there I have found Vanderbilt University students helping and trying to heal young lives struggling to break the cycle of poverty through education.
My leukemia interrupted my journeys for a couple of years, but I have recovered enough to return to west, east and north Nashville communities. And I have become acquainted with more heroic, working parents and their advocates, besides their precious children.
Last Thursday, I was able to visit two churches where children were being tutored after school by Vanderbilt students. The children were serious about receiving help and completing homework. And the students from all parts of this nation showed a compassion and kindness seen too infrequently in daily life.
These students -- educated themselves on Nashville's City on a Hill -- will return to places such as Memphis and Bethesda, MD, to make a difference in their communities. And they should go with our gratitude and prayers.
From their work, we who remain here must build.
From their work, we who remain here must ensure that the children they help after school are properly educated in school.
From their work, we who remain here must make it possible for them to academically follow these students to Vanderbilt -- then stay here to make a difference.
Then, the courageous work of these Vanderbilt students will not have been in vain but as an investment in a better and more just Nashville.
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