Honest Kids

Have you ever been called out by your kid when you lied?

“Sorry, we couldn’t make your daughter’s dance recital, but my son had a soccer game.”

“No I didn’t, Daddy. You said that you didn’t want to watch bad dancing and hang around with crazy dance moms.”

“Thanks, son.”

Fox on bike I just witnessed one of these reveals this morning. As some of you faithful readers know, we participate in Walk to School Wednesdays on the first Wednesday of every month. Since both of my sons now ride bikes, we trek the whole 20 minutes to school, passing a ton of cars about a block away from the school.

I used to get mad that parents would try to cheat the system by parking a block away just to get a free pencil and be qualified for the rumored end of the year prize, but now I bless these parents with lovingkindness.

When we got up to the woman who was handing out the confirmation slips, one of the boys who she was handing a slip to said, “What’s this for?”

“It’s for Walk to School Wednesdays. Because you walked to school, you can give it to your teacher and get a prize.”

“But I didn’t walk…” Unfortunately, the poor kid was shut up by his mother who quickly grabbed the ticket and pulled him away.

Walking home I realized that these parents are missing the whole point. The purpose of Walk to School Wednesday is not to get a free pencil that the teachers usually forget to hand out. It isn’t even to get a big prize at the end of the year.

The purpose of this program is to get exercise and spend some quality time with your children on a beautiful Spring morning. At the end of the year, even if my son got a free bike (which he won’t, since we attend public school in a bankrupt state), it would pale in comparison to seeing his face light up every week as he asks, “It’s Wednesday, Daddy. Can I ride my bike to school today?”

: Debajyoti_Das / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

This confusion about what is the real prize reminds me of what someone said to me when I told them about my daily gratitude practice. “Yeah, I tried that Rhonda Byrne sh#t a few years ago, but my standard of living didn’t increase one bit.”

Although in The Magic, Rhonda Byrne does call gratitude “the money magnet,” the real purpose of gratitude is to make your life richer, not just your bank account. We always seem to be obsessed with that “rumored prize” at the end of the journey that may or may not exist instead of appreciating the gifts of the present.

After making one of these realizations, I usually look in the mirror and see the biggest hypocrite. Today was no exception. Although we have over 150 Bloggers for Peace publishing wonderful posts every month, I’ve been coveting the “rumored prize” at the end of the journey. “Why hasn’t peace gone viral? Why haven’t any of these amazing posts gotten Freshly Pressed? Why hasn’t Yoko Ono jumped on board?”

Today, I realized that World Peace might just be that “rumored prize” that may or may not exist. Maybe we need struggle and strife in our world to help us cultivate compassion, empathy, and lovingkindness. God knows that John Lennon, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Mother Teresa did thousands of times more for peace than I have done, yet they never saw World Peace in their life times.

Today, my focus changes from the big prize to the daily practice. I may never see World Peace, but I will definitely experience peace of mind, peace in marriage, peaceful children, and, maybe, peace in my community. In fact, if my community is the blogosphere, I’ve already been blessed with a peaceful community. Thank you for being a part of that peace. {{{hugs}}} Kozo

This is a video that Gina at Professions for Peace shared with me that reminds me of the thousands of peacemakers who have been working tirelessly for peace before I was even born.