Thursday, December 18, 2008

Simple Act of Kindness

Today I dragged Camden and Maddox around on several last-minute holiday errands after picking C up from school. He absolutely despises having to go anywhere after school, but with Christmas next week, I had no choice. He moaned, groaned, complained and whined every step through every store: "I just want to go home and play Webkinz" over and over and over again. We finally pull onto our street and as we drove along I noticed a little old man struggling to clear the ice off his driveway before the next batch of snow was due to hit. I thought of how "Hallmark" it would be to help him, but my mind quickly raced through all of its censoring that adults just seem to have: what if he doesn't want our help, what if he's too proud to accept help, what if he's particular about what type of shovel scrapes across his driveway. "Camden, wouldn't it be nice to walk up and help that man shovel his driveway?" I called to the backseat, expecting him to cry out, "No, I'm playing Webkinz." He replied very simply, "Let's do it." Ahh, to think with the simple mind of a child, and none of the complicatedness of an adult.

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