So, Florida. It’s you again. You hang around in the back of the room goofing off, texting your friends, listening to the ipod you don’t think I know you have, and then wonder why you keep getting caught and punished. It’s bad enough you roll in trouble yourself, but dragging Michigan into it? Shame on you. Not exactly shocking that you both totally flunked the chapter test. So now your parents want us to let you take it all over again, huh? A do-over, just for you because you’re so special.
There’s one in every class. There is always a child whose name is uttered at least 20 times a day. The one who is willing to push other kids out of line to be first. He’s not afraid to wrestle in order to get the football for the game he insists on being team captain and quarterback of. He declares himself victim while standing among the wounded, and doesn’t understand why he can’t have, or be the exception to every rule. Don't blame him for trying, though. It works sometimes. We’ve become a fair-conscious society and young people help us all establish thought boundaries. You swore you didn’t want to be in the performance, Florida. You gave up your chance claiming you always got stupid parts and all the other kids got the good ones. That's your constant gripe. They get the wish bone, you get the coccyx.
You stomped around, pounded the desk and if truth be told I thought your head was going to explode. Yeah, you were mad. Okay, that was the last straw, I concluded. No performance, no speaking part, no walk across the stage, not for you. You would be on stage crew (and I mean no offense to stage crews). That would be your punishment this time and we all hoped you'd learn from it, or at least not ruin it for the rest of us.
So it’s the night of the play and the male lead shows up with a voice that sounds like the satellite dish got knocked out of line just a bit. The words eek out crackly, like they are being born against their will. There is no way this poor guy can get through this show. The understudy is at his aunt’s wedding that weekend and the pickings are pretty thin. Guess who are the only ones that have the parts memorized?--Florida and Michigan.
You weigh your options. Florida, although a punk, is more theatrical and you’ve seen his work before. He could definitely pull it off. Michigan, on the other hand, mainly wants attention and for someone’s coolness to rub off on him. Still, he’s not averse to getting into trouble every now and then. How do you think children would solve this dilemma?
Children have an inner Ghandi. They just want people to get along, live in peace and be nice. Their memories are too short to hold grudges which makes them very likeable people. A sense of fairness is strong, especially when it comes to their own gains. What would they do? They’d go for fairness without prejudice. They’d write the options down on little slips of paper and pick one.
I love the way kids think.
