Pizza on Earth - December 30, 2021 | Kids Out and About Buffalo <

Pizza on Earth

December 30, 2021

Debra Ross

When I was a teenager, a math teacher I respected told me that there are two kinds of people: Those who make pizza, and those who grab as many slices as they can. "At the end of the day," he said, "you want to be someone who has made more pizza than she eats." He said this to me at the perfect time, when I was just forming my ideas about who I was and was going to become. I decided I wanted always to be on the positive side of the pizza-making equation, so I started thinking about how to use the time I have here on Earth to make as much pizza as I possibly could.

Over the years, I found that the key to success in this long-term goal is to tune my mental radar to the very near future: How best do I use the next five minutes, the next half hour, the next day? It all adds up, and even young kids can add value to the world with a little time and at no cost, especially if they watch their parents doing it. Here are the kinds of things I mean:

  • Keep a mental or actual list of people you care about who are sick or struggling, and periodically but regularly check in via text, email, or phone.
  • Tell the manager you appreciate the service.
  • Push the disorganized shopping carts together in the stall in the parking lot.
  • Look for light bulbs that need changing, a hinge that needs oiling, or a sink that needs cleaning.
  • The day after a friend has received a booster vaccination, check in to see how they're feeling.
  • Find clothes / toys / decorations that have outgrown their usefulness and donate them so they can have a new life with someone else.
  • Thank someone a second time, several days after you've thanked them the first time, to let them know what what they did for you is still having an impact.
  • Clear the ice / snow / leaves / weeds from the front walk.
  • Take a walk and bring along a small bag for trash.
  • Be the first to volunteer to clean the middle-of-the-night dog barf off the rug.
  • Compliment the way a room / work space / outfit looks, especially if someone has recently cleaned up dog barf.
  • Brainstorm with your family about people you know who add value to the world every day, and let them know they've just received your family's "Best Human" award for 2021.
 
These are just twelve in a billion ways to make the kind of pizza my teacher was talking about. So think about telling your kids that the coming year will be the Year of the Pizza Party: It will benefit the world and, at the same time, generate good will toward mom. Here's to a yummy 2022!

Deb