Saturday, January 28, 2012

The Good, The Bad and the Beautiful.

The Good
To the delight of our family, we have discovered a wonderful little restaurant. The other day I took my kids there while my Wild Man was busy with work. While we waited for our food, we checked out the view from the balcony. We watched 2 little boys playing football (soccer). They only had one pair of sneakers between them. So, they took turns wearing them to play. One would wear them for a while, then they'd stop the game, and the other boy would put them on.
It made me think about how I share. Sharing isn't hard when you have a lot. It really doesn't cost me anything to give away one when I have 10 more. But what about giving away one when all you have is one? Like these boys? I didn't see any adult around making them do it. They were alone. They just knew the game would be more fun this way.

The Bad
I am trying to raise baby chicks. What I am actually doing is slowly killing off the chicken population. A week ago I took home 10 fluffy little chickens. Now, its like Chicken Survivor: Africa. We're down to the final 4. And those hearty little guys have a will to live.
The other day, WildHeart held one while it lay dying. She knew she couldn't make it well....we tried. So, at least we didn't want it to be alone. I know it's just a chicken, but there was something precious about watching my little girl comfort a helpless little animal. When it finally died, we buried it in our chicken cemetery. One area of our yard has become the Animal Arlington with several homemade crosses marking all the small graves.
We can try to ease it, but there's just no changing the reality that death is ugly.

The Beautiful
Little girls are little girls no matter where you go.
From my balcony I can see a street lined by a wall where a little water spicket protrudes. When water is available, this area becomes congested with people who are lined up with large yellow containers to fill. One morning I watched a woman waiting in line with her children. While she was preoccupied talking to other women, her little girl was behind her, twirling and watching her sundress catch the air and flow in rhythm. To everyone else it may have looked like she was just a normal Guinean girl gathering water with her family in a dusty street ....but I saw something else: I was the adoring fan of a beautiful ballerina clothed in a flowing pink dress twirling her way across a bright, clean stage.

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