That’s one of the many comments I got about the activity my boys were involved with yesterday. And, I fully admit that I pushed them into it.
Yesterday was their first day volunteering in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis. Their sister found this program a few years back that services the kids in the neighborhood for six weeks over the summer months and then through out the school year. The boys are now old enough to volunteer and they started yesterday.
I must first congratulate the boys on going without their sister, who is still in Connecticut. I’m sure it was difficult to walk into a totally strange place, with kids of all ages running around, find the person in charge and take on a completely foreign experience. Tough for adults. Even more so for 13-year-old boys.
Thursdays are field trip day and they took the kids bowling. The boys recounted for me how fun and funny it was to watch these kids experience this activity, many of whom had never bowled before. They also told me how cute the kids were and how really “awesome” it turned out to be.
But I did get a question which was — were all the kids were from difficult homes, because it didn’t “seem” that way. Interesting observation. I asked them if there was some way to tell what kind of family experiences the kids came from. No, they didn’t think so but could all these kids be “in need?”
So I suggested the following: We live in a world where we don’t see (really, open our eyes to) as much “in need” as we see “too much.” We don’t know what it’s like to go to the grocery store and wonder if we will have enough money to pay for the groceries. And, we don’t have to worry about finding clean clothes and a nice bed to sleep in.
I told the boys that life is full of surprises and that there will be many times where what we think we see is not really what is there. And, that their goal should be to treat everyone with respect, kindness and grace, regardless of how much they seem to have or not have.
When we got home I asked what they were going to do with the paycheck they received? The looked at me with shocked faces and one asked, “We get paid?” I smiled and said, “Your pay are the great feelings you have. What are you going to do with those?” Only a brief silence was followed with, “Go back next week!”
I love these guys (and it pays to push just a bit!).
Have a fantastic day!
theyearof50 