Selfish David
I've been working on a 100 Things list for the past couple days. I've been adding a few things every now and then to the list. A few of the points got me to thinking about on one of the moments in my life that I am ashamed of.
I was living in Key West in the late 80's where I attended kindergarten and first grade. In kindergarten good students would get slips of paper that had a bee on it (Sigsbee was the name of the school). These slips of paper were the size of a 1/4 sheet of paper. If one was really good, you could get the 1/2 sheet. My bottom dresser drawer were full of these bee certificates and I was very proud of it.
One of my classmates was an asshole. I'll call him "Robert." I wouldn't say he was a bully, but he was definitely a trouble maker. I remember getting into a few "fights" with him but I remember us generally getting along. He never got those bee certificates.
Back in the day, no one thought anything of letting six year olds walk home. We lived on naval housing and there wasn't much traffic, we all lived near the school, and security was not a big issue. At then end of the day, Robert and I were outside. My mom was there to pick me up. I excitedly showed her my 1/2 sheet bee certificate. I noticed that Robert didn't look very happy. It was like he was sad. I thought that maybe he would like my certificate so that he could show his mom. I saw his eyes light up. It was like I was giving him this great present that he would cherish forever. Then I thought about how my drawer would have one less certificate than it should and I promptly withdrew my offer. I didn't give him my certificate and I watched his face fall. My mom said that I was not nice but she didn't make me give my certificate up. So Robert went home with nothing to show. I went home and added a piece of paper to a pile of papers.
It was a little thing but it remains something that I feel extremely horrible about. That certificate meant nothing to me. It was just another in a long line. But for Robert, it could have meant so much more and I am so sorry that I robbed him of that.
I was living in Key West in the late 80's where I attended kindergarten and first grade. In kindergarten good students would get slips of paper that had a bee on it (Sigsbee was the name of the school). These slips of paper were the size of a 1/4 sheet of paper. If one was really good, you could get the 1/2 sheet. My bottom dresser drawer were full of these bee certificates and I was very proud of it.
One of my classmates was an asshole. I'll call him "Robert." I wouldn't say he was a bully, but he was definitely a trouble maker. I remember getting into a few "fights" with him but I remember us generally getting along. He never got those bee certificates.
Back in the day, no one thought anything of letting six year olds walk home. We lived on naval housing and there wasn't much traffic, we all lived near the school, and security was not a big issue. At then end of the day, Robert and I were outside. My mom was there to pick me up. I excitedly showed her my 1/2 sheet bee certificate. I noticed that Robert didn't look very happy. It was like he was sad. I thought that maybe he would like my certificate so that he could show his mom. I saw his eyes light up. It was like I was giving him this great present that he would cherish forever. Then I thought about how my drawer would have one less certificate than it should and I promptly withdrew my offer. I didn't give him my certificate and I watched his face fall. My mom said that I was not nice but she didn't make me give my certificate up. So Robert went home with nothing to show. I went home and added a piece of paper to a pile of papers.
It was a little thing but it remains something that I feel extremely horrible about. That certificate meant nothing to me. It was just another in a long line. But for Robert, it could have meant so much more and I am so sorry that I robbed him of that.
Comments
You are a good person.