Number 2 Pencil
About the Author
Ben spends most of his time working with underprivileged kids in Tijuana, Mexico, encouraging them to continue their education. He's an unofficial member of Iglesia Bautista Monte Horeb, which runs the elementary school, Centro Pedagógico Didaque.
Newton’s Third Law states: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Tomorrow I’m going to hand out a ton of Number 2 pencils in a very poor area. They were donated to us from a source in the States. It’s a cool story how and who rounded them up—but that’s for another article. But we’ve literally got bazillions of pencils; so each kid’s gonna get at least a few of them.
All good up until now? Maybe not. There’s always pros and cons to everything. In the case of giving out pencils—albeit a relatively insignificant gesture—there are negative effects. Bare with me.
Surely our little students need pencils; and for sure when the lead runs out, they’re going to have to find another one. Most likely this involves pulling several pesos out of the pocket. And it’s doubtful that many of our kids buy their pencils at Office Depot or Costco. On the contrary, most of them would purchase a new pencil, one at a time, from a small corner store.
From an economy of scale mindset, this is almost an ideal situation. Let’s look at the breakdown:
- corner store buys from wholesaler who makes a profit
- kid buys from corner store who makes a profit
- kid spends his/her money on a pencil, rather than on junk food or video games
- kid now has a pencil that he/she really appreciates because there was cost involved
- because of this, kid studies extra hard and gets good grades
- due to his/her good grades, kid advances in his/her schooling
- kid eventually graduates with a degree in college
- kid obtains a good job due to degree papers in hand
- kid is now able to provide for a family and positively contribute to the economy
Did I go too far? Maybe. But tomorrow each kid will walk away with a handful of pencils for free. Who benefits? The wholesaler? The corner store? Nope. And will the kid cherish the Number 2 pencil just like he/she would have if they had had to forego a bag of chips or a half-hour at the internet café?
Maybe Newton’s Law of Motion goes further than Physics class.
March 18th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I just reread your article. You’re handing out the pencils in a poor area, so I guess “my thought” doesn’t quite work. I was thinking you were giving them to the kids at school.
March 18th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Third time:
Well, you didn’t get my first comment, so the one above doesn’t make any sense. Sorry.
March 18th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
M,
Not sure what your first comment was, but this Tuesday I’ll be giving out pencils at the elementary school. I
l’ll post the results.
March 24th, 2007 at 9:46 am
M had a great idea off the record: Sell the pencils at the school. Then, with the profit made, buy something that the school needs.
I think this is a fabulous idea that I’ll put into practice next time around.
The only hitch is the donor. It could be tricky to explain that their gift would be best used as merchandise.
March 27th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Hi you guys! You’re blog is awesome, i’ve read it on and off for a while now.
I was wondering if you would consider linking to our website. http://www.FindMissionaries.org. We are a non-profit that offers missionaries free profiles.
Let us know if you decided you want to do that!
Thanks again,
Candice Clem
http://www.findmissionaries.org
April 10th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Just curious as to how the title of your blog relates to your content; seems to be a bit of a disconnect from what I can tell, off-hand. Partly why I ask is in relationship to a blog I author about fundraising for missions. I had a random thought of incorporating this blog of mine into yours, basically becoming a co-author. I only post about twice a month on the other blog, so it’s hardly worth it standing on its own. Read it at http://mfund.wordpress.com
April 11th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Hi The Aesthetic Elevator,
I’ve checked out http://mfund.wordpress.com
http://theaestheticelevator.com/ and
http://www.shorttermmissions.com/ — interesting, informative, and professional. My folks are friends with the Armstrongs’ (I think the eldest). Small world on the world wide web, I guess.
We’ve got an upcoming article that may address our title a bit further. Stay tuned.
I’m excited to continue reading your personal blog about fundraising for missions. I think you’ve focused in on a hard-to-talk-about subject—maybe for good reason(s). Yet the focus of our blog is not fundraising.
Thanks, and please keep in touch.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Small world ’tis! David Armstrong, my office-mate, doesn’t have any ringing bells resounding with respect to who your parents might be, but I’ve sent him the link to this entry so he can further investigate.
And, yes, what I write about on mFund is pretty much taboo in most circles. I write about it, nonetheless, because I know how much I would have loved and wanted to read this same information when I began raising support. I should probably spend more time on it, but most of my blogging time is on The Aesthetic Elevator and http://www.ipmblog.com
May 26th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Ben, I was just rereading this e-mail from The Aesthetic Elevator and looking at your picture. Are your parents Stan and Linda? Did you spend some of your younger years in Guatemala? If so, then I know who you are. If not, I’m at a loss knowing for sure who you are. However, since you have some connections with the state of Washington, maybe my husband David’s older brother, Don, is who your parents know.
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