“Wait ‘til you see others. Maybe at a better price,” my husband suggested to our teenage son. “You can always bargain if that’s the one you really want.”
We three were in Bangkok, Thailand years ago, navigating our way through one of the many night markets. Our son had spied a tee shirt he liked in a tee-shirt-crammed stall. Carefully searching each subsequent cubicle, he found an outside table tended by a young lady who also carried the tee shirt he coveted. He decided to buy from her.
Urging him to bargain, as is the custom, we left him alone. Better to learn this common practice on his own.
A few minutes later he rejoined us holding the favoured tee shirt. “Well,” we asked, “how much did you pay?”
“Didn’t bargain,” he said.
“What? Why not?”
“I decided she needed the money more than I needed to save a few baht,” he said.
At that moment, we knew our son had learned a valuable life lesson in caring about his fellow man. We approved his action with parental pride.
We three were in Bangkok, Thailand years ago, navigating our way through one of the many night markets. Our son had spied a tee shirt he liked in a tee-shirt-crammed stall. Carefully searching each subsequent cubicle, he found an outside table tended by a young lady who also carried the tee shirt he coveted. He decided to buy from her.
Urging him to bargain, as is the custom, we left him alone. Better to learn this common practice on his own.
A few minutes later he rejoined us holding the favoured tee shirt. “Well,” we asked, “how much did you pay?”
“Didn’t bargain,” he said.
“What? Why not?”
“I decided she needed the money more than I needed to save a few baht,” he said.
At that moment, we knew our son had learned a valuable life lesson in caring about his fellow man. We approved his action with parental pride.
Our other two sons also experienced similar life lessons as they matured and headed off in different directions, each living and working in different cultures. We applauded their actions then and we do so now because they have passed on those moral standards and humane ideals to our grandchildren. Two have helped disperse food at soup kitchens. All have friends who dive into helping others and the environment without a second thought.
Youngsters today think more about the world than did my generation. They are more involved. Our grandchildren and their buddies are looking at ways to get rid of/remedy the oceans clogged with discarded plastic. They spout statistics of doom I never knew about. They work on projects designed to dispel our thoughtless pollution. One granddaughter wants to become a marine biologist and help save sea life.
Youngsters today think more about the world than did my generation. They are more involved. Our grandchildren and their buddies are looking at ways to get rid of/remedy the oceans clogged with discarded plastic. They spout statistics of doom I never knew about. They work on projects designed to dispel our thoughtless pollution. One granddaughter wants to become a marine biologist and help save sea life.
In the northern interior of Canada’s British Columbia, the Wet’suwet’en people are reoccupying and protecting their lands to prevent the building of an unwanted pipeline through their territory; news surrounding this highly publicized activity has involved three of our grandchildren. Each one, through their parents and a supportive community, understands and supports the hereditary chiefs’ reasons for protecting their sacred lands.
You need only read the following letter, widely circulated on social media and written by our 10-year-old grandson, to realize this mad, mad world has a chance to be a better place because of kids…
You need only read the following letter, widely circulated on social media and written by our 10-year-old grandson, to realize this mad, mad world has a chance to be a better place because of kids…
RSS Feed