Awesome was made for them. They were born to be awesome, but how many times have we overheard, you idiot! Hey Stupid what did I tell you? I've done it too, but in my own defense ( I know, oh sure) I like moron and only as a joke, only if I know the older kid can take it and know too that he can give it right back. Maybe in that I should stop because we never know what a kid really thinks we think when we/I do that. So I will do better.
I remember no matter how young or old I was or am, somehow kids made me happier. In them I see proof that a future can be better for the world, that a future is possible. As a young teen feeling very little hope for the future, I still had to be responsible for my little brother and taking his two year old hand I would pretend at times to be his mom since I was with him almost every hour of the day. His future was planned. In my mind he would grow up to be a person who valued others first, didn't curse , drink or swear and would grow trees and climb mountains, yet we lived in Brooklyn New York. I was a fresh air kid so I knew it was possible for city kids to farm, climb mountains, plant a garden and from being a fresh air kid I knew too and learned about respect. They were Amish.
That Amish family taught me more in two weeks about family values, worship, nurturing and more, than I learned in ten years at home. The youngest child on the farm had family responsibilities and that opened my eyes more to what children give to us. Returning to Brooklyn I watched little kids younger than I take out trash, empty bottles, run to the store, get mom a drink, pick up something mom or dad dropped, help the baby, get the mail, sweep the floor and so much more.
As I grew up I saw my friend Sandy had some of the same responsibilities when it came to babysitting her sibling. Maybe we had to do it so much because our parents were afraid of what was "out there". But I doubt it. Anyway from then on, I saw my own brothers earn spending money shining shoes and selling newspapers. While they did that, most kids on the block ran to stores, washed halls, helped clean, did some babysitting and as they became teenagers, well that's when I really saw how kids work! Sure many to earn money, but they worked like some grown men wouldn't or couldn't.
In a local butcher shop one kid Joey cleaned like a cyclone, always sweeping in and out, delivering orders on his bike no matter how hot or cold. Oh yeah he thought he was a grown-up with a cigarette behind his ear, but the butcher Big Joe took care of that. On a Saturday night Joey was washing the giant plate glass window while friends were on their way to a dance, and he quit smoking.
Another local grocery store had a family who ran it, and yes the family children all worked there all to make it come together. Many, many time those kids had school books, sitting on crates reading and when a customer walked in, up one jumped to take care of the customer. That was family and work values in one, working for the good of the whole, no one more important or less than another.
Today we see kids behind fast service counters and expect it fast, at gas stations, movie theatres, on farms, in churches. As adults we watch them and see who we have raised grow into who they want to be. We hopefully raise our children to be able to take care of themselves, respect others, do work that is honest and meaningful and to think for themselves. We raise them to do better and be better in whatever capacity that can be and we love them no matter what.
I think I have been more fortunate than many adults, not that I'm always adult-like, but have known many kids. I've had a couple of neighbor kids, now young men living in Montana and I know how proud their parents are as they are of their daughter. I love those three kids. To me they will always be as if my own in some ways. Looking out my kitchen window I still see a twelve year old blond haired kid with a giant grin on a Nine n ford tractor, mowing and waving. Time passed then I see a darker haired younger brother then about fourteen brother going over the same ground, and more time passed. The brothers were making changes as they were becoming men. One day I heard mowers. Huh? I knew the boys were away. It was The dad and his daughter on a hot summer day, she looking so cute in jeans with rolled up cuffs, too hot to mow but being that same good and caring extension of her family. She was the one whose voice I heard in a high school hall one day yell my name with me wondering, who knew me here? She saw me, I didn't see her until then. She went out of her way to say hi. I have to move on or...well you know.
Lets' celebrate all kids and the foundations they stand on. Sure as parents own in other small children.
Look at the wonder in their eyes and wonder who they are. Take time to meet, to know and learn more about who may stand before you the next time you're on line in a fast food restaurant, getting gas, buying movie tickets or shopping. Give them a special thanks. They don't forget. Did you?
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