This past Saturday while at Mass a little boy and his father sat next to me. The boy, probably between 10 and 12, came in first and sat to my left. He was well mannered enough saying "excuse me" before just barging into what was otherwise my entire half of a pew.
At the end of Mass, as we are all singing the final song, I saw from the corner of my eye him reach into his right pocket, pull out a large piece of lint, and drop it on the floor. So for the next few seconds I stared at him with a bit of a scowl as I continued to sing. Eventually he looked at me, at which point I looked at him, then at the ground, then I went back to the book I was singing from. He sort of shuffled his right foot a bit, I thought he was trying to cover up the lint with it, as though that might make me forget I ever saw it in the first place, but eventually he bent down, picked it up, and put it back into his pocket. Then he looked back at me, and I turned to him, broadly smiled and mouthed "thank you", and then I finished the rest of the song.
The lesson here is that we do not throw our lint onto the ground in Jesus' house. In fact we ought not throw our lint down in anyone's house.
I was very happy he picked it up. I think he'll remember that for a long time. I can still recall when older kids corrected my behavior or taught me things. But while that was a critique I prefer to give praise. Whenever children go out of their way showing exemplary manners I always try to tell their parents if they are around. Once a small boy ran ahead of me as I was going into Mass to hold the door for me. His parents got a good compliment. The other day as I was walking around on a small sidewalk I heard a young boy coming up behind me while riding his bike. I stepped off the sidewalk and onto the grass so that he could ride on through. And as he passed he said "thank you". His parents also got compliments. In this case I was impressed that the small boy was able to piece together that I could hear him coming, got out of his way, rather than he out of mine, and thought to show some gratitude for it. The reason I do this is because I think, for the most part, the only time parents hear about their children from strangers, is because of something negative. Ha ha, or at least that's all my parents heard about me! So I like to think they appreciate it, and I'm hoping their children definitely appreciate it come Christmas time.
Finally I will comment on this title because I'm nearly positive no one will get it. My memory here is a little vague on the actual details but when I was in middle school, probably 8th grade, I made some comment about "stuff". And my teacher got angry at me for not being more specific in my speech. Her argument was that pocket lint is stuff. I think I was trying to appear cool and non-nonchalant about something as though it was no big deal, and she wasn't having any of that. And interestingly nowadays I can't stand that sort of attitude. Anyway that year our class got to have a time capsule, to be opened at the end of high school. And in that time capsule I put in an envelope marked "stuff" and inside was a bit of blue jean lint. I wish I could say that since then either my maturity, or at least my sense of humor has noticeably improved.
At the end of Mass, as we are all singing the final song, I saw from the corner of my eye him reach into his right pocket, pull out a large piece of lint, and drop it on the floor. So for the next few seconds I stared at him with a bit of a scowl as I continued to sing. Eventually he looked at me, at which point I looked at him, then at the ground, then I went back to the book I was singing from. He sort of shuffled his right foot a bit, I thought he was trying to cover up the lint with it, as though that might make me forget I ever saw it in the first place, but eventually he bent down, picked it up, and put it back into his pocket. Then he looked back at me, and I turned to him, broadly smiled and mouthed "thank you", and then I finished the rest of the song.
The lesson here is that we do not throw our lint onto the ground in Jesus' house. In fact we ought not throw our lint down in anyone's house.
I was very happy he picked it up. I think he'll remember that for a long time. I can still recall when older kids corrected my behavior or taught me things. But while that was a critique I prefer to give praise. Whenever children go out of their way showing exemplary manners I always try to tell their parents if they are around. Once a small boy ran ahead of me as I was going into Mass to hold the door for me. His parents got a good compliment. The other day as I was walking around on a small sidewalk I heard a young boy coming up behind me while riding his bike. I stepped off the sidewalk and onto the grass so that he could ride on through. And as he passed he said "thank you". His parents also got compliments. In this case I was impressed that the small boy was able to piece together that I could hear him coming, got out of his way, rather than he out of mine, and thought to show some gratitude for it. The reason I do this is because I think, for the most part, the only time parents hear about their children from strangers, is because of something negative. Ha ha, or at least that's all my parents heard about me! So I like to think they appreciate it, and I'm hoping their children definitely appreciate it come Christmas time.
Finally I will comment on this title because I'm nearly positive no one will get it. My memory here is a little vague on the actual details but when I was in middle school, probably 8th grade, I made some comment about "stuff". And my teacher got angry at me for not being more specific in my speech. Her argument was that pocket lint is stuff. I think I was trying to appear cool and non-nonchalant about something as though it was no big deal, and she wasn't having any of that. And interestingly nowadays I can't stand that sort of attitude. Anyway that year our class got to have a time capsule, to be opened at the end of high school. And in that time capsule I put in an envelope marked "stuff" and inside was a bit of blue jean lint. I wish I could say that since then either my maturity, or at least my sense of humor has noticeably improved.
0 comments:
Post a Comment