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Life In The Middle Today By Colleen Pulley

Children Facing Adversity

The other day Leland and I went to the local post office to pick up the mail. Just down the street is a soda fountain at the local drug store. We stopped in to get a sandwich and a soda.

Sitting at the end of the counter was a Father with his young daughter. They were sipping on their milk shakes. The little girl caught my attention, because she reminded me of one of my daughters, when she was that age. Her red hair was pulled into pigtails, and her glasses sat perched on the end of her turned up nose.

Her Daddy asked how school was going after a few days of the first grade. Suddenly the little girl began crying. I wondered how her Daddy was going to handle his daughter’s tears, and watched as he handed her a napkin, and after blowing her nose, asked her what was wrong.

The little girl proceeded to tell her Daddy that everything was wrong. She didn’t like going to school, especially all day. She wanted to stay home. She wasn’t ready. She said she couldn’t read as well as the other kids. She didn’t know how to write her name as well as the other kids. She couldn’t jump rope as good as the other girls. She didn’t know the Pledge of Allegiance. She didn’t want to ride the school bus. Her teacher told her she had to sit in her chair and listen and not talk with the little girl next to her. In short, school was horrible, and she didn’t want to go anymore.

I thought of a couple of my own kids that had sat with me after a week in school, begging to be the youngest school drop out, because they didn’t think they were good enough or smart enough for school.

The little girl’s Daddy sat there listening as the little girl cried. He put his hand on her shoulder, and after wiping her nose again, shook his head, and denied her plea to be a dropout of first grade. “Sorry honey, but you have to go back to school tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. But, I promise you it will get easier, and before you know it you will be reading, and know how to print your name, and say the Pledge of Allegiance well.” He shook his head as she opened her mouth to protest. “No” he said, and with that he tweaked her nose and they left the soda shop.

Now, that young girl is a prime example of most of us. We are afraid that we can’t measure up, and want to retreat to where it’s comfortable and safe. If we face something that is a challenge, we face the possibility that we could fail. We could stumble and fall, and others may see our short comings, and laugh at us. It is hard to accept, when we are untried, something we have never done before.

That little girl’s fears may seem pretty small to the adult listening at the counter, but to her they seem like a mountain. Her Daddy was there to help her face that challenge. He was also there to deny her desire to retreat. It was probably the first time she had to face something on her own. She may not recognize it now, and when she become a woman, she will probably not even remember how she felt today.

Each of us is a product of our successes and failures, our triumphs as well as our failures. Each of us have to stumble and fall, crash and soar. We grow into stronger, more confident, self-assured individuals when we learn life’s lessons.

May that little girl remind you that the challenges you face in life can be overcome. You like her can soar. But let us not forget that if you do not get a gold medal, you are still a winner. You win when you face the trial and grow. To you success. Until later...Colleen

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