Bee Kind

This past week Bryce brought home from school a prize he had earned from his kindergarten teacher, a cute little bumblebee. The bumblebee was made out of several black and yellow pipe cleaners twisted together with wiggly eyes glued on and cute little wings. Bryce was very proud of his little bee and the accomplishment it stood for (good behavior in class).

But, unfortunately the little bumblebee didn't make it very long at home. I'm not sure if it was played with too roughly, if there was a little brother responsible, or what exactly was the "cause of death." Bryce couldn't quite get the information out through his tears. He was very grief stricken over the destruction of the bee. I am not very crafty and try as I may I couldn't seem to reassemble the bumblebee. The next day Bryce brought the pieces back to school and asked his teacher if she might be able to fix the bumblebee.

A couple of days passed and one afternoon after he had come home from school Bryce told me that his teacher had given him back his bee. He then told me that he didn't have it any more. You see, he said, his teacher had given a bee to him and another boy in his class that day. The other little boy just happens to ride home on the same school bus as Bryce. The boys were sitting side by side, holding their bumblebees when another kid decided to harass the kindergarteners by taking and pulling apart the other boy's bee. As you can imagine, the poor little boy was very distraught and sat beside Bryce crying over the mess of pipe cleaners that had been handed back to him. Bryce told me that he "thought in his mind" "Should I give him my bee? I don't wan't to give him my bee, but I should. It will make him happy." Then Bryce kindly handed over his much-prized possession to his classmate. "And that's why I don't have my bee anymore," Bryce told me.

I was so touched that Bryce willingly gave away something that was so precious to him. He chose to do the right thing, even though it was hard. It's amazing how much our children can teach us. It's easy to give away our extras, our spares or unwanted items. But how often do we give away something dear to us without expecting anything in return other than knowing that we did the right thing?