Sunday, January 08, 2012

Sharing—I think of myself as somewhat generous. I try to do some volunteer work, think good thoughts about others, and donate money to “good” causes. There is one area of my life that I struggle with in being generous and that is sharing my popcorn. I love popcorn. It is one of my favorite foods. My selfishness started when I was in high school and I would make popcorn nearly every night. I would keep the large bowl for myself and give the other four members of my family a small cereal sized bowl to share. I rationalized this action by using the “Story of the Little Red Hen”. As you may remember Little Red was trying to get help in making bread. She asked all the other animals on the farm for assistance. All refused so she ended up making the bread all by herself. When the bread was finished all of a sudden the other farm animals wanted bread. I didn’t even know that farm animals liked bread. Little Red said, “Nay, nay, I made the bread so I get to eat it all.” This is the rationalization that I used in keeping most of the popcorn and unlike the Little Red Hen at least I shared some of the popcorn. When I left home and was living alone I got to eat all the popcorn that I made guilt free. I never thought much about it but several years later I was at a family gathering and the subject of popcorn came up and my nephews and nieces all started calling me, “Uncle Jim the Popcorn Hog”. I was stunned. What had my brother and sister had been telling them? It was very humbling and embarrassing and even after telling them “The Story of the Little Red Hen” story I decided that I had to start sharing my popcorn. Now when I make popcorn I share half of it with my wife but she also helps me make it.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home