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BIG AND DUMB

We called him big and dumb when he walked into our school.

What is it, I wonder, about us as children…that sometimes makes us cruel?

He was bigger than the rest of us…(this was many years ago)

but as far as his being dumb…well…we really didn’t know.

We just knew that he was bigger…he was different…that was all.

Perhaps it wasn’t that he was big…but that our minds were small.

Perhaps we were a little afraid…he was something we’d never seen

Why is it fear of someone different…can sometimes make us mean?

But once I got to know him…once I took the time to see

except for his enormous size…he was so much more like me.

He had courage and determination…he had his insecurities…

and just like me, I found out…he liked his hamburgers with cheese.

In time we became friends…and, as friendship often does,

we focused on what was important…and not how big he was…

And I was glad he walked into my school…glad our lives had overlapped…

What is it I wonder, about us, as children…that we so easily adapt.

Though we may hesitate at first…at something novel or unplanned

we easily accept it once we come to understand

that the world is such a beautiful and exciting place to be

and what makes this world so beautiful is its diversity.

So we hope we learn from mistakes we made…and leave behind once and for all

those times we acted out of ignorance…when our minds were much too small.

And we hope as we grow older…we look back where we came from…

and we remember lessons from our youth so we don’t grow up big and dumb.