What is the definition of power?

When I was in the third grade my definition of power was a new pair of shoes.

Every time my mom dragged me and my brother to the store to buy a new pair of tennis shoes, I would imagine that each bright shiny pair of shoes possessed super powers.

As the clerk tied the shoestrings, I knew I could feel the energy pulsing from the rubber soles into my legs.

As I walked up and down the aisle of the shoe department, I was convinced that, like the spider bite to Peter Parker, a new pair shoes transformed me into something like Spiderman.

And, each time I walked out of the department store admiring my brand new shoes, I knew I could run faster and jump higher.

That was my definition of power.

Unfortunately, after a few days of using my imagination the power quickly dissipated until several months later when I got another new pair.

Well, if you are a third-grader in Natchez, power is coming in a more real and everlasting form.

Thanks to the Natchez Rotary Club, 20 cardboard boxes filled with bright yellow paperback dictionaries were wheeled down the hall of McLaurin Elementary School Thursday morning.

Members of the club handed out 417 dictionaries to every third-grader in the Natchez-Adams School District Thursday afternoon.

In the coming days, Rotarians will be giving dictionaries to the third-grade classes of Trinity Episcopal Day School, Adams County Christian School, Cathedral Elementary and Holy Family Catholic School.

Look at the front cover of the book and you will find the definition of power staring you in the face.

&8220;Knowledge is power,&8221; it says.

Well that is not exactly the definition. Turn to page 248 and it says, &8220;the ability to do something, strength or force.&8221;

Either way, the dictionaries give students the power to do something and that is the ability to learn.

And that is a power that can go faster and farther than any new pair of tennis shoes ever could.

Just ask Anthony Morris, superintendent of the Natchez-Adams School District and a Rotarian.

&8220;It is very important,&8221; Morris said. &8220;To get them from somebody outside the school reinforces in the students the importance of (the dictionaries.) It helps them see the relevance in learning,&8221; Morris said Thursday afternoon.

&8220;This may be the only book in their book satchel they own,&8221; said Rotarian Chuck Caldwell who also helped hand out books Thursday.

In addition to word power, there is another type of power sitting just inside the book&8217;s front cover called the Four Way Test.

As Rotarians, we know this simple 25-word test as a way of promoting high ethical standards in their business and professional lives.

With each class, Rotarians go over the four way test with the students.

&8220;Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build good will and better friendships? Is it beneficial to all concerned?&8221; they recited with the third-graders Thursday.

When going over the test, one of the students asked what the word beneficial means, Caldwell said.

&8220;I said lets turn to page 38 to find out,&8221; Caldwell said.

In past years, I have photographed this event. And each time I have been amazed at how enthusiastically the third-graders embrace their new books.

Like those new shoes of my childhood, you could sense the power being transferred into their bright young minds.

The difference this time is that this power is real.

Ben Hillyer

is the visual editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3552 or

ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com

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