Mouth Of Babes
Most precious little boy, maybe age 4 or 5 has been chatting with me
for several minutes at the park, and then the subject changes for the
40th time:
Boy "people like me."
Me: "of course they do, you are a wonderful young man."
Boy: "yeah."
Boy: "you are really fat aren't you."
Me: "well, yes, I guess I am"
Boy: "how did you get so fat?"
Me: "well it happens sometimes"
Boy: "did you eat too much food?"
Me: "I guess I did, didn't I"
(Pause)
Boy: "Its okay. I like you even though you are fat."
Me: "I like you too."
10 years ago that would have made me mad.
5 years ago it would have made me cry.
Today, I didn't argue with this sweet boy. He made an honest observation about me, and maybe it wasn't tactful, but after he tried to figure out why I was different from him he was just as honest: it was okay that I was fat, he liked me anyway. It's taken me a long time to realize that's just what life is like. It doesn't matter what you look like or believe or do, in the end it only matters you have enough people who like you any way.
Boy "people like me."
Me: "of course they do, you are a wonderful young man."
Boy: "yeah."
Boy: "you are really fat aren't you."
Me: "well, yes, I guess I am"
Boy: "how did you get so fat?"
Me: "well it happens sometimes"
Boy: "did you eat too much food?"
Me: "I guess I did, didn't I"
(Pause)
Boy: "Its okay. I like you even though you are fat."
Me: "I like you too."
10 years ago that would have made me mad.
5 years ago it would have made me cry.
Today, I didn't argue with this sweet boy. He made an honest observation about me, and maybe it wasn't tactful, but after he tried to figure out why I was different from him he was just as honest: it was okay that I was fat, he liked me anyway. It's taken me a long time to realize that's just what life is like. It doesn't matter what you look like or believe or do, in the end it only matters you have enough people who like you any way.
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