Sunday, December 28, 2008

Eager Young Minds

I was a surprise when my mom found out that she was expecting me.  My parents already had two, a girl and a boy two years apart, she was close to 40 and hadn't planned on any more.  But five years after my brother was born, lo and behold, here I came!  Of course because of their ages, my two older siblings were closer to each other than either one was to me, and I was (and still am) the baby of the family. 

With busy parents who had spent most of their energy raising the first two, I spent a lot of time playing by myself, and I was always eager to be a part of the forbidden "big kids" world.  Yet every once in a while my brother, 5 years older than I, would take it upon himself to explain the world to me. Just things in general, stuff I didn't particularly ask about. He'd get a notion that he wanted to teach me about what he was learning in history class, and he'd launch into this fascinating explanation of life in the 1700's.  Or sometimes he'd tell me all about the life of spies (as if he really knew).  And though I couldn't understand much, the fact that someone cared enough to talk to me meant the world.

"You know Evelyn," he said once, "back in the days of the wild west, people weren't so concerned about taking baths all the time.  They would just do it on Sunday mornings before church and the rest of the week just wipe themselves down with a cloth."  I was amazed. "Look at how wasteful we are these days with modern showers and all these shampoos.  We're ruining the environment because we're too obsessed with bathing every day." It was a revelation.  The heavens parted and I saw the light and the error of my ways.  I made a solemn vow right then and there that I would only bathe once a week.

I didn't enjoy this new vow and I really missed a good scrubbing in my daily shower, but because of the kindness of my "mentor" who took the time to enlighten his little tag-along sister with his wisdom, I willingly endured my suffering to know that somehow I was benefitting the planet.  How being grimy and smelly made the world a better place, I wasn't too sure, but if my brother said so, then it had to be.

Needless to say, this didn't last long when my mother discovered that my hair was a mess and I was roundly scolded for what she thought was laziness.  I went back to my old routine of a shower every night, but I never got upset with my brother for giving me bad advice.  The kindness of his attention meant everything to me, and for that I was eternally grateful.  I have always had a special spot in my heart for my brother even though we barely see each other any more and we both have our own lives and families.  He cared and valued me when I felt like no one else did.

There are kids around us, just waiting for someone to take them under their wing and give them some kindness, attention and guidance  Sure there are the kids that don't want to learn from anyone (or at least they act that way) but there are plenty who may go unnoticed.  There are things in this world that are confusing to them and to have someone take the time to make sense of it all for their young minds, could make all the difference for their futures. 

Just make sure they take their baths.

5 comments:

Cristiane Cardoso said...

These eager young minds are looking for role models, though many of them don't even know that, it's in their sub-conscience... I remember looking for them myself and though I found some, few of them actually took the time to talk to me. The ones who did however made all the difference and I will never forget them!

Thuthuka said...

Somebody once told me that a man shouldn't shower often because apparently women just love the natural "masculine" scent. I took his advice and put it to practice. Strangely enough, it didn't work ...

I agree with Mrs Cristiane. The world is lacking role models, and those who would make good ones don't have the time of day. Which is why most of us end up looking at our peers and following them. In Zulu we have a saying "You can only ask the way forward from those who are ahead of you". We all need people who've achieved what we want to achieve so they can be an inspiration to the rest of us.

Revolted_Manila said...

^_^ i enjoyed reading this post Mrs. Evelyn. very good example of good speaker and good listener. sound advice of someone who cares for us is really a treasure except that not taking a bath.

God bless.

Cindy from Manila

Izamar Romero said...

this was a funny article

Sandra Tiseira said...

I was laughing reading the article, but I would do the same my older brother would tell me all these things that would make me grow up faster, and you think I want to be a big girl. I would just get in trouble but kept falling on his little traps. Now I look back and laugh about it…