Parents, Wake UP!

A little boy and his mother are eating out, as they are sitting at the table the little boy sees a bus boy cleaning tables. The bus boy is so happy, smiling and saying hello to everyone. The little boy proudly looks at his mother and says, "I want to clean tables when I grow up." The mother looks at the child in horror and says, "Oh no that would not be a very nice job to have." The boy sinks into his seat sadly.

The next day this little boy and his mother went to the zoo and while there this man with a shovel was smiling and greeting all the children and parents as they entered the zoo. The children watched intently as the young man opened his shovel to clean up the animal droppings on the grounds. The little boy says, "Mommy, mommy, I know...I want to clean up after the animals in a zoo when I grow up." The mother this time took the little boy by the arm and said, "You will never be a someone who cleans up anyone or anythings poop."

The child now walks around the zoo with his head held low and feeling sad that all the things that seemed happy to him were disappointing his mother.

Several weeks later the mother has to go to court and she takes him with her, his mother and father are getting a divorce. As the little boy sits in the corner waiting to be told what to do or say he's observing everyone. His mother's attorney gets up and starts screaming at his father and his father's attorney. The child is horrified and wants to run to his father's side. But instead he just watches has his father drops his head and begins to cry.

The mother is smiling and walks towards her son and says, "See that man over there?" pointing in the direction of her attorney, "That's who you need to grow up and become." The child's heart sinks. He wanted to be someone that was happy, fun, and loving. He never saw the person as their job but rather the person that was having fun and enjoying life.

The child grew tired and hard. He wanted to please his mother but he knew to do that he had to become something he wasn't. So the child went through school doing everything that was asked of him and even became what his mother wanted him to become.

But the child always resisted opening his heart completely in fear that it would be someone that would be rejected by his mother, not anyone else just his mother. He wanted to please his mother so that he could feel connected to her and that maybe one day she would be proud of him and smile.

As his mother aged the young man had to put her in a home. He was very paranoid about doing this because what if someone didn't treat her well. This young man had stopped seeing people smiling and having a good time when they worked, and had only seen the greed and anger in people. He had to stop seeing people having fun because it hurt him too much in being reminded of the joy he lost as a child. He saw the janitor as someone that didn't mean much, he saw the cooks as beneath him, he saw housekeeping as servants, all of which he made regular visits to yell and scream at these folks that they were not taking care of his mother right.

One day as he entered the building a young woman with two small children entered the building along with him. She had a uniform on and spoke very nicely and had a big beautiful smile on her face. Her children were bright and cheerful as she took them into the daycare room. He watched her as she went to the nurses desk and asked about the patients in her care for the day. This young man was impressed with this woman. She seemed so happy no matter who she was talking to.

Finally the young woman came into his mother's room. "Good morning Ms. Sunshine, how are you this beautiful day?" His mother lite up like a Christmas tree. He noticed that his mother seemed to shine when this young woman came in and knew that this must be an important woman. They chatted for a while and then the young lady told her she needed to get started with another patient but that she would be back later.

After the young lady walked out the son sat on the edge of his mother's bed and said, "Wow, she must be very important around here?" The mother just smiled and said, "Yes indeed." Now of course his interest peaked, he needed to find out what position she held here, she must be a charge nurse.

He stepped out into the hall and watched as she went room by room opening the curtains for patients and telling them good morning and that she would be back. This young woman had a smile on her face even when patients yelled and called her names. His interest was really getting the best of him now, something was happening within his heart. He could feel the heart opening and a huge smile came to this young mans face. His face turned pink and he could feel the blood moving around in his body.

After feeling a little silly he went back into his mother's room and said, "I must find out more about this young lady." His mother looked at him and said, "Son, she's the person that bathes all the residents." He sank into his chair and tried to think of why someone with such a job would be so happy.

Finally his opportunity to speak to her arrived when she entered his mother's room. "Good afternoon, Sunshine", the young lady exclaimed. "Are you ready?" Again the young man watched as his mother shined. He had to ask, "Young lady, I've been watching you today and how you seem so happy to be here and helping these people the way you do, why? Why are you so happy to be here and doing what you do?"

The young lady looked at the young man and smiled and said, "Because I enjoy helping others. I love life. And I want someone to treat me the same way. I may not have the best income, but I do have the best job. And because of that I can live each and every day knowing that I'm teaching my children to do and be the same. Isn't that what we are all here for,to LOVE?"

It was that day the man realized that he had surrendered love in order to be something he wasn't. He was now a person that hated everything about his life and tried to get everyone around him to hate it too. He feared his mother was not going to be treated well because of how she treated others. He knew within all his heart this was his greatest fear, that someone would close their heart to him.

However, this young woman did not close her heart. They continued to talk and grow together and one day had the life of love with her children and then gave birth to another child. This child would play and run and tell everyone she was going to grow up to be this or that. The young man would smile and say, "Honey you can grow up to be anything you want to be in LOVE."

Love, Velvete