This week’s reading was special to me. Lighting a Spark was
great chapter. The Eastlea School is located in the slums of London. No one
expects them to do well including the students. In comes a conductor who wants
to expose the students to classical music. Classical music? The students won’t
listen to this. They won’t be able to sit still. So many negatives were brought
up by those about to receive something special. The orchestra came. The media
came. Did they come to catch a special performance or to validate the
stereotype of the Eastlea School? The first performance went off well, but not
entirely smooth. The conductor of the orchestra didn’t let the stereotypes stop
him. He humanized the entire situation by writing a letter to the students telling
them thank you and then giving them goals to achieve for the main event.
Everyone was amazed by the behavior and even enjoyed on of the students,
Anthony, as he was allowed to conduct a portion of the concert. What made all
of this possible was that one person challenged themselves to light a spark
where it was greatly needed taking the chance that the entire scenario could
blow up in his very own face.
-Shrav