mh 8/16/98

A couple of days ago I was driving home. I was on main street, good old Main Street with its shade-powered magnolias and antebellum houses along the wide paved rode, when I saw a fleeting sight that made me wish I had my camera. I say it was a fleeting sight only because I was driving too fast to get a good look.

What I saw for that momentary glimpse of reason was something seemingly ordinary. In fact it is very ordinary; I guarantee you of the many people who drove by I was the only one that thought any thing of it. What I saw was two girls and a rusted red wagon. They were, I suppose, taking turns pulling each other over the rickety cracked shaded sidewalk. When I passed, a pretty white girl of about six was pulling a pretty black girl of about six. The black girl was stretched out in the wagon staring up through the magnolias. The white girl was leaned over, pulling with all her young might, thinking probably to herself "it’s almost my turn, it’s almost my turn."

As I zoomed out of sight I thought, I don’t know what made me think that, but I thought "I wonder if they are wearing necklaces?" Then I thought how in a few years those necklaces (if they were wearing any) would be too small for their larger necks. Then I thought about the simple goodness of those two girls, helping each other, no thoughts of hate in their minds. Then I thought that in a few years all that goodness and innocence would probably fade away, or rust over like that wagon.

Then I thought about what Jesus said, "unless you become like these little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Maybe he has a point.