Stepping Up: Stephanie, Courageous Champion

I love starting a new year with a new s-hero. Stephanie Burmudez, 13, started my year off right (It's not her fault my bliss will likely not last long.)

She was asked to write about her experience of being homeless for her North Philadelphia shelter's newspaper--one written by homeless children and adults to benefit homeless persons--and she first said no.

But the newspaper account of how she came around is worth reading. She closed her column with some profound observations:

You could be us. We could be you. It's just One Step Away . . .

We are all one step away . . . to getting a home. To losing a home. To rebuilding our lives. To destroying our lives. To retrieving our families. To losing our families.

I can't say anything to top that. If a 13-year-old girl with pretty much nothing to her name can figure this out, I'd like to think our political leaders can grasp what this really means.

Seems to me this new decade has a fresh slate. And it's up to us to let kids like Stephanie lead us on the path we should be on, one where kids count. Yeah, even kids without homes. Especially the more than 1.5 mil kids without homes. I hope to meet up with her some day. I hope to meet her expectations of us each and every day.