You know how you have a tombstone right above you when you are buried? On that tombstone there is your date of birth and your date of death. In between those two dates, there is a dash mark. At our school, we have a club called Fellowship of Christian Athletes or FCA for short. One day, we talked about how to make your dash count. Making your dash count means to do something extremely nice for someone that you wouldn't normally do. It doesn't necessarily have to be a big thing that you do either. It could be something as small as holding a door for someone or doing an extra chore without having to be told.
As for me, I helped my school host a party last month. The party was really fun! It didn't cost us anything. Families brought the snacks and drinks. A few students set up a DJ booth and played the music. They did it for free as well. The party raised a lot of money! All of the money that was raised was sent to help the United Way.
I interviewed another Whyvillian about this, willv14.
Hottrent1: Do you like this idea?
willv14: I think that it's an interesting idea, I've never heard of that before. I like it. It's pretty cool.
Hottrent1: What have you done recently to make your dash count?
willv14: Recently, Hmm. It snows in Colorado a lot, so I know most of the elderly in my neighborhood and I go around in the mornings at 4 am and start shoveling their driveways and sidewalks. Today I was walking my dog and there was an elderly woman carrying her groceries home. I pulled my dog back to her house while carrying almost all of her groceries. Later she offered me $10 for my troubles. I denied and smiled and said, "The feeling of helping of someone out is far too much payment and I walked away.
Hottrent1: Wow! That is truly nice!
Making your dash count doesn't necessarily have to be in real life. You can also help by being nicer to people online too. You can surprise a new Whyvillian by sending a clam gram of fifty clams. You can be someone's new friend. Maybe you can comfort someone who was just put down by a grouchy Whyvillian. You could play games with other users in multiplayer games like the Food Sort in the Cafeteria to help them receive more clams. That idea can profit both of you!
I interviewed a Whyvillian with the user of UshersKid about making his dash count.
HotTrent1: How do you feel about making your dash count?
UshersKid: I have actually heard of this about a year ago. I like the idea of doing something nice for someone and knowing that you did. It always gives me that warm feeling in my stomach, you know?
HotTrent1: I do understand that feeling. I like it too. So what do you do to make your dash count on the Internet?
UshersKid: Last week, I saw this new Whyvillan who was trying to beat the Food Sort game in the Cafeteria. This Whyvillian was alone and couldn't win without help. So I thought that I should go help her out since it profited me as well.
HotTrent1: Well that is a wonderful thing to do! I am glad that you are making your dash count.
See how there are many was to help people and make your dash count? It doesn't have to be much. So Whyvillians, what will you do to make your dash count?
