As MLK day fades into the tapestry that will be 2014, here’s one final contemplation; simple wisdom from a child! Scroll through…the thought fodder is worth it:>) A transcript from a man interviewed for ‘This American Life’…. It all began at Christmas two years ago, when my daughter was four-years-old. And it was the first time that shed ever asked about what did this holiday mean? And so I explained to her that this was celebrating the birth of Jesus. And she wanted to know more about that. We went out and bought a kids bible and had these readings at night. She loved him. Wanted to know everything about Jesus. So we read a lot about his birth and his teaching. And she would ask constantly what that phrase was. And I would explain to her that it was, Do onto others as you would have them do unto you. And we would talk about those old words and what that all meant. And then one day we were driving past a big church and out front was an enormous crucifix. She said, whos that? And I guess Id never really told that part of the story. So I had to sort of, yeah, oh, thats Jesus. I forgot to tell you the ending. Well, you know, he ran afoul of the Roman government. This message that he had was so radical and unnerving to the prevailing authorities of the time that they had to kill him. They came to the conclusion that he would have to die. That message was too troublesome. It was about a month later, after that Christmas, wed gone through the whole story of what Christmas meant. And it was mid-January, and her preschool celebrates the same holidays as the local schools. So Martin Luther King Day was off. I knocked off work that day and I decided wed play and Id take her out to lunch. We were sitting in there, and right on the table where we happened to plop down, was the art section of the local newspaper. And there, big as life, was a huge drawing by a ten-year-old kid from the local schools of Martin Luther King. She said, whos that? I said, well, as it happens thats Martin Luther King. And hes why youre not in school today. So were celebrating his birthday, this is the day we celebrate his life. She said, so who was he? I said, he was a preacher. And she looks up at me and goes, for Jesus? And I said, yeah, actually he was. But there was another thing that he was really famous for. Which is that he had a message. And youre trying to say this to a four-year-old. This is the first time they ever hear anything. So youre just very careful about how you phrase everything. So I said, well, yeah, he was a preacher and he had a message. She said, what was his message? I said, well, he said that you should treat everybody the same no matter what they look like. She thought about that for a minute. And she said, well thats what Jesus said. And I said, yeah, I guess it is. You know, I never thought of it that way, but yeah. And it is sort of like Do onto others as you would have them do unto you. And she thought for a minute and looked up at me and said, did they kill him, too? _________________________
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:35:56 +0000
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