Each Easter our HOA puts on an Easter egg hunt in the park located in our community's common area for all the children. The kids love it. This year we put out over 1,200 eggs in addition to stuffed monkeys, balls and color wheels that spin in the wind. It is quite a wonderful event. Our community is a reflection ofChandler's great diversity. Red, yellow, brown, black and white. They are all precious in our sight. We love all the little children of the world.
This past Saturday was the perfect morning for an Easter egg hunt. A little cloudy, a little cool. The wind was quiet. The eggs lay still in the grass as the children lined up for the countdown. One, two, three – GO! It must have taken all of five minutes for every single item of value in the grassy area to be scooped up by these little human vacuum cleaners.
A few minutes later we noticed a couple with a small child, maybe 3 or 4 years old, arrive late to the Easter egg hunt. Upon seeing that the hunt had ended, the little girl began crying. Instantaneously, several of the other children dropped several eggs from their collective baskets in an area which surrounded the upset child. The little girl smiled and quickly sauntered away on her own personal Easter egg hunt.
We parents who observed this random act of kindness were taken aback by our children's total lack of selfishness. We were humbled by their willingness to step up and help another child in need without being asked or encouraged. We looked at each other and said that this was the American spirit.
Later, I pondered over whether the children's reaction was instinctual or learned. Their actions that day were the result of taught and patterned behavior. The caring, the sharing, the selflessness all were the results of great parenting. Good continues to happen!
In the big picture of things, this event in our community park that Saturday may seem small and relatively insignificant. But I wonder if we adults could only be so quick to put aside our personal differences and just be there now for each other in our collective time of need. I wonder if it would make a difference. Sometimes the solutions to our most complex and challenging problems are found in the simplest of things. An apology. A thank you. Seeing things from another point of view. Thanks to the children, we parents were blessed that Saturday by a strong dose of American spirit!
Jon Beydler is a 34-year Valley resident and the former Mayor of Fountain Hills who lives in South Chandler.
chuckles3 posted at 11:14 am on Fri, Apr 13, 2012.
Very nice. Giving willingly of yourself is American Spirit. Allow me at add a little twist to this story and present a little fiction:
At the same event in 2013, it is unseasonably hot-probably due to global warming.
All the little children scramble in the heat working hard to gather eggs. A child in a wheelchair watches sadly, but at the end is surprised when several sweaty, tired children offer her a share of their bounty. Smiles all around.
As the happy families prepare to leave. a large SUV screams into the parking lot. Several small children pile out, still dressed in their pajamas and looking sleepy. The parents hop out of the car waving their arms
"wait! wait! We are late, our kids want some eggs!" The parents looks a little ragged and uncomfortable in the hot sun.
A crowd gathers, "why are you so late?" asks one parent from the crowd.
"our kids were up all night playing video games, and we went to the Jimmy Buffet Concert last night....the kids were tired, we were hungover, and knew it would be hot, hard work to collect the egg..we slept in"
The crowd murmurs and the families turn to leave, some visibly angry.
The hungover couple and their children start complaining about how unfair everyone is being to them, and the Dad finds the organizer of the event.
Immediately the organizer grabs his bullhorn.
"your attention please, we have a family in need..therefore every child must give one quarter of their eggs to this family."
A ten year-old speaks up:"but there were here late because they were irresponsible, I went to bed early last night and we did all the hot, sweaty work"
"It does not matter why they need help, you MUST give them your eggs"
Glumly, the children do as they are told. The event organizer hands the collected eggs to family, smiling warmly.
"You are a great man" says the hungover mother of the still-sleepy children.
"Well, I care about people, unlike those selfish brats and their parents" He says, and makes plans to collect 25% of the eggs gathered by the children from then on to give to people as he sees fit. After, he knows best how to give out the eggs.
mnjcpa posted at 11:59 am on Fri, Apr 13, 2012.
chuckles - one of the coolest ways I have seen in a long time to illustrate the ridiculousness of liberal thinking. Superb!
VofReason posted at 12:34 pm on Fri, Apr 13, 2012.
Better yet, the next year, more parents decided there was no reason to wake up early and make their children have to work to collect eggs. Since the event organizer was able to enforce the collection of 25% of the hard working childrens eggs, he was able to distibute them amoungst the growing mob of late comer non hunting. He also was able to enforce a $5 entrance fee on the early comers and hired his own children and $100 an hour to hide the eggs. As the years wore on, there were more and more of the late comer non hunting families. All of them were more then happy to vote in the event organizer for the next year to ensure further distribution. Until one day when the early comers were no longer willing or able to pay the rising entrance fee or collect enough eggs for the late comers. The end.
VofReason posted at 12:35 pm on Fri, Apr 13, 2012.
And it's Jesus loved the little children of the world.
Nikkie posted at 12:55 pm on Fri, Apr 13, 2012.
Leon Ceniceros,
That was a presumptuous statement. Untrue and mean. You have taken the meaning of what was written and skewered it into a political statement. May God help you find happiness in the world. Maybe it's liberal thinking, or Democratic thinking, or the just the meaning behind what Easter truly is, but peace begins with an open heart and an open mind. Obviously, it wasn't your children who were taught to treat others as you would want others to treat you. Hopefully, they find someone who they can learn to be compassionate from. Love is nurtured.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 3:35 pm on Sat, Apr 28, 2012.
The parable of the ...."Have's and the Have-nots"
The hard working Republican children who were...."on Time"...and worked hard to find the Easter Eggs.........and the Democrat child who showed up ...."Late"...and then whinned, yelled and screamed demanding that if though they did not...."earn"...the Easter Eggs.....that they were still ...."entitled"....to Easter Eggs.
So the children of the Republican parents opened their wallets.....ooops....I mean their Easter Baskets and share their hard-earned Easter Eggs to bring Peace and Harmony once again into the Easter Celebration (let's that the Democrat child was told what Easter is truely about.............not about..........Peter Cottontail hopping done the Bunny Trail in Jerusalem.
mrconservative posted at 12:43 pm on Thu, Jun 28, 2012.
Chuckles, if I were a parent in that situation you gave, I wouldn’t let my child give any eggs. I’d tell the late father: “To hell with you. It’s YOU fault you were late. I’m not giving you anything.”
That may sound selfish, but it’s the parents fault for letting their children play video games all night. They could have chosen to make their kids go to bed earlier.
Jon Biteler may as well go to hell himself.