runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Once upon a time . . .

Once upon a time there were two little girls, best friends and age 6. They loved to play together and they especially loved playing at Francine's house because Francine had tons of great toys and a baby sister whereas Nicole had 2 other sisters near to her own age and had to share everything. So they met one afternoon at Francine's house to play and they were having such fun until they could no longer agree on what to play and the play date started to fall apart.

"I want to play Hawaii" said Francine, backpack on and stuffed bear clutched in her hands, ready to board the plane.

"I want to play church!" said Nicole as she headed back toward the easle with chalk in hand.

"NO!" insisted Francine, "It is my house and I want to play Hawaii".

"Well I want to play church because I am your guest" said Nicole and she put her arms stiffly at her sides in protest.

"I don't know how to play church" said Francine and she walked back toward her friend.

"Why don't you know how to play church?" asked Nicole.

"Because I don't know what church is" replied Francine.

At this point Francine's mother who was within earshot and had heard the girls arguing came around the corner to help them settle their dispute. Nicole asked Francine's mother why she didn't go to church and Francine's mother said, "Because we do not go to church and we do not believe in God." Nicole's mouth hung open in shock and her eyes started to well up with tears. She looked like she was going to burst out crying at any second.

"I . . . . I don't think we can have anymore play dates then . . . . if you don't believe in God . . . . . " trailed off Nicole.

"And a little child shall lead them" Isaiah 11:1-10

Oh and this is a true story, I only changed the names to protect the parents of the two 6 year olds in the story.

4 comments:

Christine said...

Joy - It's true that many people are not tolerant of differences. It's easier to want to everyone to believe just like you. Harder still to respect everyone's opinions, even though you don't agree with them. I believe this scenario is VERY common - not just about religious beliefs either, it could be about anything and could have more subtle consequences than losing a playdate over it. What interests me is what happens to Nicole after this story...does it help her realize she can be more tolerant even though these people were not? :)

Whitney said...

I love this story. What I want to know is what happened when the little girl went home and told her mom about it!

Runlikejoy said...

Christine,
so interesting you took it that way - I think the opposite, Nicole is intolerant due to her parents and religious upbringing and is willing to discriminate based on religious bias. It will be interesting to see if Nicole can step out of the shadow of her family/religion and accept people from all walks of life regardless as to their religious beliefs.

Runlikejoy said...

Whitney,
when word got back to the mother about what her child had said, the mother was mortified. . . as any mother would be in this situation I think. Right?