I came home the other night to a questioning wife: "Why do you have dirt all over your hands?"
That afternoon I was walking out of the Community Center when Miguel, the head of maintenance at Village Oaks, approached me. There were two boys with him, and Miguel explained that the boys had been pulling up the flowers in one of the new flower beds we planted.
"Did you boys pull up the flowers," I asked?
"Yes."
Ok, good start, I thought. "Why did you pull up the flowers?"
"He told me to do it," fired back one of the boys. "No! It was your idea!"
After a bit of talking, I told them I did not appreciate being lied to.
"Real men tell the truth, and that is what you are going to do. I want to know why you pulled up the flowers. Were you bored," I asked?
"Yes."
"Was it fun to pull out the flowers?" Again, they said yes.
"So, why did you pull out the flowers?"
"Well, I guess because it was fun and we were bored." Then the other boy chimed in, "and because I wanted to give one to my mom."
I thanked them for being honest with me and told the boys that it was ok to want to give flowers to your mom. But, the community flower bed was not the place to get flowers for your mom.
"So, what do real men do when they do something wrong," I asked?
"They hug?" I laughed and said, "yes, they do hug, but what else would they do?"
"They shake hands?" "Yes, real men do shake hands. What else? There is something that a real man would do when he does something wrong."
"They pay for what they broke?" "Yes - they would pay for what they broke. But today, I am not going to make you pay for these flowers. So what else would real men do?"
"They would make it right?" "You are exactly right," I told the boys! And off we walked to replant flowers.
The boys did a great job replanting the flowers and have now become the "official police" for that flower bed. At the end of our replanting effort, there was one lone pansy without a spot. As the little boys stood there wondering where to plant it, I told them to take it home to their mom. I like to think it was God's way of showing all three of us His grace.
-- Will Dowell
