The Sink or Swim Project

I’m in the middle of final exams for what has been an incredible semester of learning here at the University of Miami and have largely been “radio silent” in recent weeks but just had to share this with you!

Nine year old Dane Best is my hero this week. He’s a totally normal kid from Colorado but he’s also a super-hero Agent of Change capable of fixing what the adults before him broke.

As a major snow storm travels across much of the United States Dane’s story sure is topical but also shows the impact young people are capable of having in their community, our country and the world. You see, Dane’s school visited his local City Hall in Severance, Colorado on a field trip recently and while there learned that (I am not making this up) his town had a nearly 100 year old law on the books that outlawed throwing snowballs.

Yep. You read that right. Snowball throwing in Severance has been against the law for almost a century.

At least until Dane came along and asked: why?

Now, Dane is not the first person to ask that question.

Or write a letter expressing their displeasure and requesting the law be changed.

Or to call City Hall about their silly law.

But he is the first person to do what was required to actually get such a ridiculous law changed: attend a City Commission meeting and ask, in person, that the law be abolished.

And what did the adults on the City Council do when presented with this logical concern from Dane? They voted unanimously, of course, to change the law and allow snowballs to fly through their town’s Colorado air.

It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can have a voice in your town.

Dane Best

9 Year Old Super Hero Change Agent from Colorado

Perhaps the best part of the day, at least for Dane, was that right after the City Council meeting he and his little brother Dax were given the honor of throwing the first two legal snowballs in their town in nearly a century. And it just goes to show you what concerned citizens, even kids, can do if we set our mind to making our planet and the places we live better.

Hey, Dane, hit me up. Let’s attack this global climate change crisis thing together. You, me and our young friends all over earth so kids in the future can still be able to throw snowballs. I am pretty sure kids like us can fix the stupid things that adults have been doing for far too long to warm our planet with man-made carbon emissions and that brave agents of change like you can lead the way before it’s too late. In fact, I’ll bet you a snowball or two that you can get the adults in Colorado to enact laws to clean the air and outlaw carbon emissions in your state during our lifetime. Ready? Aim. Fire!