![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
i posted this on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
weezerthe1's journal, in response to a discussion about how we lose our sense of childlike wonder, creativity, etc. as we get older. i decided to post it here, because as i wrote it, my heart started breaking all over again.
when i was in college, i dated a guy from out west. one of those states where it's a lot of land and not many people. i went out to visit him for 2 weeks one summer, and he had to work one of those weeks during the day... so his mom asked me if i'd like to come and help her at bible camp for that week. i'm not the world's most religious person, but i said yes.
the mom was in charge of the room of 3 to 5 year olds, and they were absolutely precious. there was one 3-year-old boy in particular named aaron who was so adorable... he was incredibly shy and quiet, and always had this look on his face like he was sad about something. i was drawn to him, and would always say hi to him and try to encourage him during activities, so that he felt like he was part of the group.
anyway, one day the kids' activity was to take these little pieces of balsa wood shaped like chickens, and paint them... then at the end of the day, my boyfriend's mom would glue a magnet on the back so it could be put on the fridge. all the little ones set to work with their paints and their chickens. i looked over at aaron, who had finished painting his... he was studying his chicken, and looking over at the little bible verse he'd been given that morning (all the kids got a daily bible verse to take home, it looked like a fortune in a fortune cookie)... he picked up his slip of paper, looked at the painted chicken, looked back at the paper... and, realizing that the paint was sticky, he stuck his bible verse to the chicken. i was thrilled that he had had this artistic breakthrough, that he could take 2 separate things and put them together like that. my heart was leaping. but before i could tell him how proud i was, my boyfriend's mom came flying across the room, and shouted at him, "LOOK what you've DONE! you've RUINED it!!!" and she tossed his chicken in the trash and made him start over.
poor little aaron just sat there and painted another chicken. i wanted to bawl. and i never liked her after that.
weezerthe1's journal, in response to a discussion about how we lose our sense of childlike wonder, creativity, etc. as we get older. i decided to post it here, because as i wrote it, my heart started breaking all over again.when i was in college, i dated a guy from out west. one of those states where it's a lot of land and not many people. i went out to visit him for 2 weeks one summer, and he had to work one of those weeks during the day... so his mom asked me if i'd like to come and help her at bible camp for that week. i'm not the world's most religious person, but i said yes.
the mom was in charge of the room of 3 to 5 year olds, and they were absolutely precious. there was one 3-year-old boy in particular named aaron who was so adorable... he was incredibly shy and quiet, and always had this look on his face like he was sad about something. i was drawn to him, and would always say hi to him and try to encourage him during activities, so that he felt like he was part of the group.
anyway, one day the kids' activity was to take these little pieces of balsa wood shaped like chickens, and paint them... then at the end of the day, my boyfriend's mom would glue a magnet on the back so it could be put on the fridge. all the little ones set to work with their paints and their chickens. i looked over at aaron, who had finished painting his... he was studying his chicken, and looking over at the little bible verse he'd been given that morning (all the kids got a daily bible verse to take home, it looked like a fortune in a fortune cookie)... he picked up his slip of paper, looked at the painted chicken, looked back at the paper... and, realizing that the paint was sticky, he stuck his bible verse to the chicken. i was thrilled that he had had this artistic breakthrough, that he could take 2 separate things and put them together like that. my heart was leaping. but before i could tell him how proud i was, my boyfriend's mom came flying across the room, and shouted at him, "LOOK what you've DONE! you've RUINED it!!!" and she tossed his chicken in the trash and made him start over.
poor little aaron just sat there and painted another chicken. i wanted to bawl. and i never liked her after that.
