Things to Ponder

The other day I was walking down 86th Street in NYC and I saw a mom drop off her teenage son, kiss him on the cheek and watch him walk into school as she shouted "have a great day!". I spent much of the rest of the day wondering what kind of kid he was, if he was a good kid, did it bother him that his mom kissed him in front of all his friends, did she need to watch him walk into school to make sure he went or did she enjoy that as part of her morning ritual. I truly did think a lot about this and then later that day I was at lunch with two friends and heard a story about another teenage boy that warmed my tired, cold, dead heart. This kid, we'll call him Spencer had a girlfriend. He'd gone out on a date or two with her and then one day when his mom asked about her he said they had broken up. His mom asked why and he said, "Because she was mean". Delving deeper into what made her "mean" he told his mom that he and girlfriend were sitting at at table and another girl from their tiny high school came up and asked if she could sit there. She sat. They all talked and then after she left his girlfriend turned to Spencer and said, "Can you believe that? Who does she think she is?" And so he broke up with her. Hallelujah! I wish all of us could be a little more like Spencer and stand up for kindness. My brother Jeff is on a mission to help people be a little less petty, a bit less mean and a lot more Christ-like. While I applaud his efforts and want him to succeed I know from my own personal experience that it is often difficult to undo years and years of what I like to call Mean Girl Syndrome. This doesn't just affect girls even some guys get into this weird thing where they introduce their parents to everyone except for you and have a pie party with everyone on the floor except for you. Meh, I could get my feelings hurt but for the most part it is comical to me and I can just try to be kind and open and not let stupid petty ridiculous things bother me.