A lesson in love,
cooperation, fear, trust, ingenuity, inventiveness, resolve and determination.
What you may ask?? I just watched my next door neighbors' three young children
come home from school and discover they are locked out of the house. (Now how come
not one of them had a key, is another story, lol) They appear to be 12 (girl),
10 (boy) and about 6(boy) years of age.
Watching the elder
brother take the lead and open the basement window to climb in, only to find
out, that while he may have been the one to open the window, he was not small
enough to get through it. He must have attempted doing it several times, from
going head first to feet first.
The others coached,
laughed and watched his every attempt to get through the window but he simply
could not figure out how to get his backsides through it.
Then sister takes
the lead, she seems completely animated the entire time, giving instructions,
fussing, and basically being a female in a stressful situation where she has to
get the men to follow her idea. Her idea, "let little man go through,"
he can fit.
Finally, big
brother, after several failed attempts, IN A HUFF, goes along with the idea,
snatches little man's glasses off and tells him to do it. Little man is clearly
terrified of the idea. What if I fall? What if I break something? Who is gonna
catch me??
Big brother says,
never mind and attempts to do it again with no luck. It is a tight squeeze and
his hindparts just won't make it, no matter how much he twists and turns. Then
big sister stands behind big brother and measures her own hindparts. Hmmmmm. Maybe
a bit smaller. She tries, it quite a few times, and while it may be a bit
smaller??? she is not the same shape as her brother, long torso, just can't
seem to maneuver that torso through that tiny window opening. All the while
they take turns running around to the other side of the building. Must be a
bigger window around there to climb through.
Again and again,
they negotiate and strategize and maneuver and attempt to figure out how can
they get into the house.
Finally at long
last, little man gets up the courage. It seemed to never occur to them to hold
him as he goes through the tiny window opening. Something so obvious did not
appear obvious to them at all.
Little man, took off
his glasses for the 4th time, tried going in head first, then feet first. It
seemed his nervousness was dissipating as he pushed himself in little by
little. After watching this for a few seconds, big brother has a great idea,
maybe I'll help him! He rushes over and holds little man by the head!! Wow, I
wondered to my self, why didn't they just hold his hands and reassure him that
he wouldn't get hurt??
In an instant,
little man is in the house. He runs to the front door in another instant and
opens the door. He lets his big brother and sister in to cheers and yells,
little man, is the hero of the day!!!!
I remember as a
child and even an adult being locked out of the house. I remember pushing my
own tiny son through the opening of a window. I remember my children telling me
how they climbed onto the roof and got themselves in. But this is the absolute
first time I saw little people do it on their own. I basically would have been
of no service to them, they don't know me, I am new to the neighborhood and
most certainly they were taught not to speak to strangers.
It was an absolute
pleasure to watch them work it out, and then wonder, how come we big bad adults
can't do the same? What is wrong with us that, if we have a common goal, we
cannot negotiate in a way that everyone is helped and no one is hurt. Why can't
we take the risk of trying something new, it may be a little scary, but if the
new plan works, try it.
Then I thought to
myself, I hope and pray they grow up to be the same kind of adults I saw them
as children. And then I hope they grow up and work in a important position at
the UN, and maybe they could bring some of their talents and help this world be
a better place, because seriously, ADULTS ARE NOT MAKING IT HAPPEN!
Update: The next day the young people arrive home again, to a locked door. Little man goes straight for the window. But alas, there was no need, they had the key to get in!
