For youth 8 to 12+ years old
The Ambassadors of Light presentation was created by and is presented by Lightward Bound, free of charge.
The presentation encourages youth to be a light in their community. It will last approximately 20 – 30 minutes. Parents are invited to be present.
(An e-mail would be appreciated to let us know how many children/adults you plan to attend and on which date: ambassadors@lightwardbound.org)
The youth will leave the presentation with an affirmation card that inspires them to be Ambassadors of Light. (Card image below)
The presentation will generally follow this script:
Good morning/afternoon
My name is Emil Therianos. I have something important to talk about today.
The first thing I’d like to do is say the Pledge of Allegiance together
You do that in your schools, right?
Okay, let’s stand; I have a flag over there.
As we say the Pledge, think about the words.
[Recite Pledge together]
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all.
Thank you. Go ahead and sit down.
There are two parts of the Pledge that I’d like to talk about.
The first is the beginning of the Pledge:
We say “I pledge allegiance to the flag” and to our country.
But what is allegiance?
It’s another word for loyalty.
It means we aren’t going to turn on our country and do things to hurt it.
It means we do things to support and help our country.
Our country is also our people.
The kids and people around you are part of our country.
We should be loyal to each other.
The second part of our Pledge that I want to talk about are the last words:
“with Liberty and Justice for all”
In some ways we have that, but we are still working on making this a great place for everyone.
America needs your help to keep working on making it better.
That’s why I started Lightward Bound. I believe we need more light in our country to get rid of the darkness that is still here. And we all need to help.
When I talk of light, I’m not talking about light bulbs and sunshine–yes, those are good.
But I’m talking about light that lights up people’s lives:
Things like caring about each other and being nice and friendly.
I’m talking about truth that helps us know things and not lying to each other.
If we’re going to talk about light, we also have to know what darkness is. The things people do that hurt others or take away light from their lives is darkness. If we say mean things to someone, we’re putting some darkness into their lives. If we hit or push them and make them feel bad, there’s darkness. Sometimes people post stuff on the Internet to hurt others—that’s some more darkness to avoid. When we try to force someone to do what we want, it’s another kind of darkness. We have too much darkness already in our country. We need to get rid of it. Like I said, we all need to help.
The best way you can help is by spreading light. The light we’re talking about are things that help people feel good and make things better for all of us.
Can I get a couple of examples of something that can help someone feel good?
[Take a couple of their examples/responses]
[Explain how the good feelings inside are part of light]
We can have light inside ourselves, like when we believe in ourselves and when we feel happy.
We can also share light with others when we help them feel good.
Maybe we tell them that we like them or we help them with a problem–that is sharing light with them.
We can also help remove darkness from someone else.
Maybe they got a bad grade on a test and you remind him or her that he/she is still smart and a good person. Or maybe someone is being mean to another kid and you help the kid to get away from the mean one.
Let’s be the ones who defend kids who are being treated badly.
Let’s be the ones that help make life better for others. This usually helps us to feel good, too.
An important thing we need to always remember is that no one deserves darkness in their lives. But sometimes the people or circumstances around them put darkness into their lives. And sometimes that can lead them to spread darkness too.
Remember that, when someone treats you badly. They may have darkness in their lives that causes them to be that way. Don’t hate them for it. Protect yourself when you need to. But always try to be the one spreading light.
I want you to know that being a light in our community is so important.
There are a lot of bad things happening because of the darkness that still exists, even here in Tooele County.
Each of us can help make our world a little bit better with our light. And when we share light with someone else, they may share it too. When enough people are spreading light, a lot of problems will start shrinking.
I want to show you guys something.
I need you to stand up. One of you hold onto this pole with your hand—right here. And I need someone at the other pole, here.
The rest of you make a chain from [him] to [him], connecting hands (without gloves etc.)
You see what’s happening. [Lights are lighting up]
What happens if we break the chain? Somebody let go.
Now you can connect again.
I want you to remember this light and you being connected.
Let it remind you that when we are connected in good ways, it lights up our community.
It lights up people’s lives.
We can connect with each other and be a friend.
That’s something you can do: you can be a friend, especially to those who maybe don’t have a lot of friends.
When someone is lonely, there is darkness in their life, but a friend can help brighten things for them. Just like when we’re connected here, these lights light up. This is important.
Let’s go through some scenarios and see if you can find the light in each one.
You can let go of each other’s hands and I’ll have you connect when we find some light.
Someone says something mean to you. You walk away and find a friend to be with.
Where is the light here?
[Connect] [Let go]
You see a kid on the playground, sitting and crying.
What ideas do you have to help bring some light to this kid?
[Connect] [Let go]
If you don’t like someone, what could you do to be a light instead of spreading darkness?
[Connect] [Let go]
Go ahead and sit down.
I have a question: Who deserves darkness in their lives? [Nobody]
Who needs light in their lives? [All of us!]
[Repeat this until they say it firmly, enthusiastically]
We’ve talked about light and darkness in people’s lives. What if some darkness gets into our own lives? Maybe someone hurts us and we’re upset. There’s some darkness there. If we keep thinking about it and decide the other person is bad and start planning a way to get him or her back, we’re wallowing in darkness and keeping it in our lives.
We need to protect ourselves from darkness. Any good stuff we can put into our minds, any light we can put there, can help us get rid of darkness in our minds. Sometimes it might take a while, but we need to always try to keep light in our own lives.
We have light in ourselves when we have hope or
when we feel good about ourselves
when we feel loved by someone
when we feel love for someone else
when we are thankful for people and things in our lives
Everyone has hurts in their lives, which brings some darkness into their lives.
If you have enough light in your life, though, some of the darkness can get erased.
But some people have been given so much darkness, that they can’t get out of it. If it gets bad enough, they may start spreading darkness around them.
It’s hard to be a light when too many people are putting darkness into your life.
Even adults can sometimes do bad things that spread darkness. When you grow up, I want you all to be a new kind of adults. I want you to be adults that try to spread light instead of darkness. I want you to be ambassadors of light. Our country needs you to be lights, making good things happen in America! We don’t need you to be like everyone else; we need you to be the best YOU can be.
I’m going to give you one of these cards. On the card is an affirmation that can remind you how to be an ambassador of light.
[Have someone pass them out]
Let’s read through it now.
[Read affirmation]
Look on the back. It says, “This is the kind of person I want to be” and has a place for your name.
If you want to be this kind of person, a light in a world that has darkness, put your name on it.
Take the card home and read it each day and try to be that kind of person.
Also, show it to your parents. Maybe they can remind you about it.