The $300,000 Whistle
by Michael Nitai Deranja, Founder of Living Wisdom Schools and
Director, Living Wisdom
High School
(Originally appeared in Clarity
Magazine, Winter 2003.)
The Living Wisdom School Ananda Village had been
in existence for about a year when something occurred that many
people considered a miracle.
Before moving to Ananda Village in 1972, I had taught
for one year at a public school and earned a teaching credential.
During those pioneering days of Ananda, even this meager resume
attracted attention. Arriving at the Village on a Friday, I was
enthusiastically greeted by certain community members who asked
if I would be willing to start a school…on the following
Monday!
There was a pressing need for the school. One of
the keys to the success of a world brotherhood colony is finding
solid, workable ways to integrate children into the community.
There were then seven children between the ages of five and eight
who had nothing to do and were getting into mischief. The parents
had come to Ananda for spiritual reasons and wanted a
suitable alternative to public school.
So with Swami Kriyananda’s blessing and support,
the school got underway. Soon we were able to move into our permanent
schoolhouse on top of a hill overlooking the “downtown”
area of the Village. It was newly built, but unfinished, with
the only access via a deeply rutted, badly maintained tractor
trail.
During one recess the children became excited watching
a car drive up the tractor road, something we’d never seen
anyone attempt before. It turned out to be an official from the
State Fire Marshall’s office on an inspection visit.
The man getting out of the car had a rather serious
expression on his face. After a perfunctory greeting, he walked
around the building, clipboard in hand, taking official-looking
notes. When he finally spoke, it was to tell me that we would
need to provide access for a fire truck to reach our building,
along a paved road that connected with the public road about a
mile away.
I was shocked. “Do you have any idea how
much that might cost?” I asked.
He said, “Well, somewhere around $300,000,
including the grading and pavement. I’ll be back in three
weeks. If you haven’t made substantial progress by then,
we’ll have to close your school down.”
As his car bumped away, I reflected on our current
operating budget of $75 a month, including
salaries. Being asked to come up with $300,000 was like trying
to pay off the national debt.
My next thought was to offer the problem up to
Yogananda. I said, “Master, this is something you’re
going to have to take care of, because there’s absolutely
nothing I can do about it.”
A huge obstacle had been placed in our way. If
it was to be removed, the solution would have to come from God.
Not wanting to waste energy worrying, I went about doing what
I could to keep the school moving ahead.
About three weeks later another car came driving
up the hill. As I walked somewhat hesitantly out to greet it,
I saw that it was driven by a different man. He too was from the
State Fire Marshall’s office, but had a much friendlier
expression on his face. He explained that the previous official
had recently decided to switch to the arson inspection division.
I reflected that this new line of work would be much more appropriate
for him.
As the new man looked around, I waited nervously
for him to ask about the paved road. Finally he looked up and
said, “Let’s see, now the issue here is fire safety.
The main thing is to make sure the children don’t get trapped
in a burning building.”
Looking around with a smile on his face he said,
“Up here that shouldn’t be much of a problem with
all this open space around the school. What you need is a good
fire warning system.”
“Yes”, I agreed, thinking that now
he was going to ask for some expensive sprinkler system that would
still be way beyond anything we could afford.
“I was thinking,” he continued, “that
what you need is a good whistle. Yes, that would do the trick.”
I was stunned. “A whistle?” I stammered. “Yeah,
sure, that’s something we could do.”
“Okay,” he said handing me a paper
to sign. “This is your promise that you’ll take care
of the situation.” I gratefully signed the paper, making
a mental note to set aside $1.25 from this month’s budget.
People have asked me if I thought this was a miracle.
I do, because it was such an unlikely solution to a problem that
I had no way of solving. A major difficulty had been resolved
in a very unusual way. It seemed a divine blessing on the Village
as the first world brotherhood colony, as well as a confirmation
that the time was right for getting the schools underway.
Michael Nitai Deranja is a Lightbearer and Ananda
Village resident. The founder of the first Ananda Living Wisdom
School, he currently serves as Director of the Living Wisdom High
School at Ananda Village.
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