Proverbs 26: 16 The
lazy man is wiser in his own
eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.
" Home address?"
Mother looked at daughter. Daughter looked at mother. Both burst out laughing.
Not, “I have a disability so I shouldn’t have to work.”
But, “You work so I don’t have
to.”
She thought it was clever. I thought it was the saddest thing I’d ever
heard, because I recognized the look on her daughter’s face. It was the look of a student who’d just heard
something from her teacher---- something she would remember and apply for the
rest of her life.
This mom turned her child into a
human being who sees all other human beings not as people but as targets for
exploitation.
In comic books villains are
created when someone makes a deliberate decision to do evil things because it
is evil. In real life the formula for
creating bad people is simpler---- and scarier.
Proverbs 26: 16. As an educator and a pastor I’ve sat down
with family’s dealing with suicide, divorce, foreclosure, and
homelessness. I’ve had parent conference
in which I had to keep the kid from jumping on his mama or pull the dad off his
kid. I’ve been in the middle of ever
kind of dysfunction & family tragedy you can imagine.
Of all those, the saddest
sit-down I ever had was with a mother and her daughter whom I was “sending off”
to a disciplinary program. The mother
didn’t contest anything in her daughter’s thick, thiiiick discipline folder,
which surprised me because this lady’d cussed me out on several previous
occasions. The child didn’t complain
that she was innocent or being singled out, which also surprised me because she
usually lied to me at least twice a day.
Frankly, the whole conference was proceeding with remarkable cordiality.
As we were closing, I asked the
mother to verify her contact information.
"Cell number?"
She gave it to me.
"Work number?"
Pause.Mother looked at daughter. Daughter looked at mother. Both burst out laughing.
Mom: Work?
Man, I don’t work. You work so I
don’t have to.
Not, “My husband works so I don’t
have to.”
Not, “My parents worked so I
didn’t have to.”Not, “I have a disability so I shouldn’t have to work.”
People become monsters when they
simply decide, “I am going to have everything I want, and I’m not going to work
for any of it.”
----- Anderson T. Graves II
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
If you want to be a blessing to
this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order made out to: Hall Memorial CME Church
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
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