|
______________________________________
*Little Brown Boy* 2/3/03 ______________________________________ If you enjoy this free email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of teenagers everywhere! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, you can join Heart4Teen.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past articles in our archives, and view the tons of resources we have there for teens! http://www.Heart4Teens.com/Teen_Stories ____________________________________________ Be sure to check out our other inspirational email list and web site! http://www.HeartTouchers.com To subscribe send a blank email to: HeartTouchers-subscribe@myinjesus.com _________________________________________ Author Michael T. Powers Contributing Author to Chicken Soup for the Teen's Soul on Love and Friendship and 14 other inspirational books. Check out his book: Straight From the Heart by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com _________________________________________ Little Brown Boy By Alison Peters Danielle was only four when she burst through the front door, having just gotten off the school bus, after preschool. Charging through the living room, she spotted me in the dining room and launched into a speech while she headed toward me. While it was comical to see such a little person behave so dramatically, her outrage seemed real enough that she had my full attention. "They are MEAN to him!" she raged, her little fist hammering the table top for emphasis. "Who is mean to who?" I interrupted. "Those kids on the bus! They are MEAN to the little brown boy!" She looked up at me, hands on her hips, her eyes wide, incredulous. I knew she expected me to right this injustice immediately. It was the first one she had discovered in her very new Out In The World On Her Own adventures. "They make fun of him and make fun of him and make fun of him." Her golden head nodded emphatically with each repetition. "They laugh at him. They copy the way he talks. They hurt his feelings!" I watched her while I listened. This was something very different for her, this little girl I knew so well. I had never seen her just this way before. I even saw flashes of anger in her green eyes. "The way he talks...?" I prompted, as if she needed prompting. I sat down at the table and set her on my lap. "He doesn't talk perfect, but that's just because he's a little kid!" this four-year-old elderly person informed me loudly, inches from my face. She looked directly into my eyes, needing answers. "WHY are they so MEAN?" My husband and I had been a little apprehensive about sending her to and from preschool ("Headstart") on a bus with many of the kids so much older and bigger and tougher than she was. This was our baby of the family, our sheltered miniature princess, and it was not easy to back off and let her face the world without us for a few hours a day ... Alas, even princesses grow up. "Do you think they might be doing that just because he's new?" I asked her. She thought for a minute. "No. When I was new, they didn't make fun of me." I took a deep breath. "Do you think maybe they tease him because his skin is black?" She thought for a minute, clearly puzzled. Then she wrinkled her nose and said, "You mean brown?" I nodded and she went on: "Because he's BROWN? You don't make fun of someone just because of that!" I told her I hoped she was right. She was learning lessons none of us should need to learn. Man's inhumanity to man ... Kid's inhumanity to kids ... Whatever the reason, people can be so cruel. (Since we were looking into that subject, and since Danielle has a Downs' syndrome sister who rode on the same bus, I asked quietly, "Does anyone on the bus make fun of Shannon, Danielle?" I'll never forget the look she gave me. My question threw her totally off guard. Her brow furrowed, her nose wrinkled again and she asked, "Why in the world would they make fun of Shannon?" The very idea was ludicrous. Her mother could be so silly sometimes ... Relief was great ... But just in case, just in case there really was a flash of racial prejudice or any other mean-streak residing in the preschool bus in our little rural neighborhood, it was necessary to take a bit of action. First, I telephoned the principal and informed him that my preschooler had come home upset because of the way a little boy was treated on the bus. I told him what she had told me, and he asked me to thank her for him, for alerting us to a possible problem, something that needed his attention. He assured me he would look into it and he appreciated Danielle's and my concern. She was happy. We had done something. Then, for good measure, she and I sang a song together: a song we both knew very well. "Jesus loves the little children All the children of the world. Red and yellow Black ('AND BROWN', I threw in) and white, All are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." I don't know how the principal chose to handle the problem: I don't know what he said to the kids. But rest assured Danielle kept me posted on Life on the School Bus, and there was not even one more negative incident involving the little brown boy. A princess had seen to that. Alison Peters Sweetpetes3@cs.com Write Alison and let her know what you thought of her story! _________________ Alison is a single mom living in Florida who loves to write! Her stories appear in a number of inspirational teen books. _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "A blind man who sees is better than a seeing man who is blind." Verse for the Day: "But blessed are your eyes for they see: and your ears, for they hear." --Matthew 13:16 Kid's Thought For The Day: A man was bending over to tie his three-year-old's shoes. That's when his wife noticed their son staring at her husband's head. He gently touched the slightly thinning spot of hair and said in a concerned voice, "Daddy, you have a hole in your head. Does it hurt?" After a pause, the husband murmured "Not physically." Parent's Thought For The Day: COLUMBUS' MOTHER : "I don't care what you've discovered, you still could have written!" Coach's Thought For The Day: "Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary." --Ray Knight Deep Thought For The Day: "Life could be worse. You could be the guy who counts the pollen for the newspaper!" _________________________________________ ALL-STAR Ministry --The Youth Church of Faith Community Church in Janesville, WI If you are in 6-12th grade and live in the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois area and would like to check us out, we meet every Sunday night from 6:30-8:00 PM at Faith Community Church which is located at 2931 Lucerene Dr. in Janesville, WI. (About 4-5 blocks south-east of The Skating Place.) Currently we have students from Fort Atkinson, Milton, Janesville Craig, Janesville Parker, Orfordville, Clinton, Beloit Memorial, Beloit Turner, South Beloit, and Hononegah. E-mail me back if you have any questions about our weekly meetings or would like to come to any of our events that are listed below... We have way too much fun and then, most importantly, talk about issues that are relevant to you as a teenager. _________________________________________ Change Is Coming! Starting the week of February 16, lots of exciting changes are going to happen with the FCC Youth Ministry! All-Stars will be extending its time to 6:00 - 8:30 PM on Sunday nights. 6:00 - 6:30 will be time for the youth to chat and discuss anything they want with the youth leaders or each other. 6:30 - 7:00 PM will be for games or fun activities and then 7:00 - 8:30 PM will be for the lesson and discussion time. Students are still welcome to "hang out" after 8:30 PM if they want, as the leaders are usually at the church until at least 10:00 PM. The Extreme Teens (Core Group) will be moving from Wednesday nights to Sunday evenings from 5:00 - 6:00 PM at the Powers House. This group will be very extensive with weekly homework, memorization, service projects, etc. The Outlet: "Get plugged into Jesus Christ!" (Teen Cell Groups) Wednesday night community groups for teens will also start this week. The groups will be limited to no more than ten teens and will be originally split into Jr. High and High School ages. This night is for those teens who want to dig deeper than what we do in All-Stars, but may not be ready to be a part of the Extreme Teens. Homework will be minimal, (possibly reading a chapter from "Prayer of Jabez for Teens" which will be the first study we will be doing). These cell groups will also be doing special activities with each other as the year goes on to build community. We are very excited at what God will be doing with our Youth! _________________________________________ UPCOMING EVENTS February 21 - 22 -- 30 Hour Famine (Friday at midnight - 6 AM Sunday morning) 35 stateline teenagers will be going without food for 30 hours to raise money for world hunger! March 7 - 9 -- Fort Wilderness Winter Retreat (Initial cost is $94, which may go down as more fundraising is done. This price does not apply to those who helped with the Chili dinner. Your cost will be at the most $74.) Room and board is $78 per person with the extra $16 going to pay for van rentals and gas. _________________________________________ Author MICHAEL T. POWERS www.Heart4Teens.com "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in Heart4Teens.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.Heart4Teens.com/guidelines/ ___________________________________________ "I need a daily source of inspiration and encouragement in my life!" SUBSCRIBE: To become a Heart4Teens.com Member send a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com Then get ready to laugh, cry, and be deeply touched by some of the best stories on the Internet! __________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-unsubscribe@myinjesus.com __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm __________________________________________ |
 |
|
Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
|