When I was in elementary school, I was a good kid. I was well behaved, kind and extremely shy. The worst thing I ever did was in first grade when I turned around to the desk behind me, while doing in-class assignments, and gave my paper to my twin sister to complete for me. She did, and I got very good grades because of it.
That was the worst thing I ever did, until I reached fourth grade or so. Every Friday was popcorn day. Bring a quarter and you can buy a giant bad of popcorn. Yeehaw!
We didn't get to bring quarters to school very often. It was kind of sad to walk around the playground every Friday and see the tiny popcorn pieces strewn all over the asphalt and sand. I always thought it would be easy to get an empty popcorn bag out of the trash can and fill it up with the popcorn that had fallen out of kids hands as they were stuffing their faces. I bet no one would even know it was popcorn that had fallen on the ground.
One Friday I decided to try my trick. I grabbed a discarded popcorn bag out of the trash and walked around picking up the tiny popcorn pieces off the ground. I got some friends to help me. In no time at all, the bag was full. I looked at it. It looked like the real deal!
In my stupid head, I thought it would be funny if I could get someone to believe it was real. If I could get someone to EAT it, that would be so funny!
I looked around the playground and my eyes stopped on two boys. These boys were not very popular. They were from poor families. They did not dress very nice. Sometimes they did not smell very good. If anyone wanted popcorn, they would want it.
I walked over and offered it to them. Their eyes lit up! They were so happy to have this popcorn to eat! They were so happy someone had done something so nice for them.
I felt so dirty inside. It wasn't funny like I thought it would be. It wasn't how I thought it would be at all.
I watched them eating the popcorn so happily and was disgusted with myself.
I will never forget the look on the boys' faces as they learned the truth when my friend approached them and told them the truth about where that popcorn had come from. They spit the popcorn out on the ground. They were so hurt. I can never get that scene out of my head. I will never forget. I never want to forget.
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” — by L.F.Buscaglia
I often wonder what happened to those boys. Where are they now. I hope wherever they are, they have forgiven me.
Hey, I remember popcorn Friday. I remember how bad I wanted some. But noooo, I never had any money. It was such a hard life. :) I would venture to guess that this incident had more of an effect on you than it did these boys. Hopefully they just let it roll of their backs and moved on (guys are like that). But anyway, at least you learned something from it!
ReplyDeleteOops, I meant *off* their backs. I do know how to spell.
ReplyDeleteAlyson, in first grade I didn't sit right behind you. I remember this incident well. You sat at the very front of the row and I sat somewhere near the back. You brought your paper to me. And yes, the rest of the story is correct. And man how I hate that other story because just like you, I can't seem to get it out of my mind and wonder how it affected those boys. How much I want to say I'm sorry I was so stupid. I wish we had given them a real bag of good popcorn. :(
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