Charlotte – a lesson in resilience

G’day. I think we all admire kids like young Charlotte.

I ’ve known Charlotte for most of her 11 years on this earth – a chatty lively girl who lived up the road.

Her parents were very loving but it was obvious to everyone, but apparently not the school, that she was struggling academically – way behind in basic skills and left behind by her more mature friends – she was such a chatter box, usually about some make believe topic so other girls just smirked at each other and moved away. So it was understandable that Charlotte was trying to avoid school – a failure in the classroom and a failure in the playground.

Her grandma was a music teacher and when a band was being formed at school, leased out one of the clarinets – and every day nan would listen to Charlotte either in her room or over the phone – Charlotte showed some promise so nana paid for private lessons and this year managed to get her included in the local woodwind group. But the big asset Charlotte had going for her was her acrobatic ability; her mum had noticed that she was always bouncing and jumping so they got her into a cheer leading group – Charlotte was so slight and so strong, she soon became one of the group’s high performers, in fact she was the kid lifted up to the top of the formation (whatever you call it when kids climb on others’ shoulders to be at the apex). Last year they won 1st at Nationals and 1st in the state.

Just this term every student in her class was asked to prepare a 3 minute speech to present to the grade about a topic of their choice. Charlotte was keen to talk about her cheerleading so with her grandad’s help wrote a story called “A loser no more” – it started off saying “most of you know that I’m not very good at spelling or reading or maths or writing, I suppose you could call me a big-time loser”. Then she went on to say how she found cheerleading and how well her team had done and then finished up along the lines that “although I wish I was better at schoolwork, at least I’m good at something. Everyone can be a winner if you find what you’re good at, just keep trying and never give up”.

Just recently Charlotte has had a thorough intellectual and educational assessment – the results were not comforting, down in the bottom 1% intellectually and over 3 years behind in basic skills – her parents and family are devastated but I have been at pains to reassure them that Charlotte will always find a job, she will always succeed because although her I Q may be low, her EQ (Emotional Intelligence) was way up there. Charlotte truly is a champion – she has the resilience, courage and self belief that will see her a winner in life no matter what the set-backs. Well done, Charlotte!

And nan, if you’re listening, welcome to the Humble Heroes Hall of Fame – you may think you’re old but you’ve unleashed a spirit that will live on.