In honor of Mr. Ben Herman, who never failed to teach his students life lessons through his stories of “Pee Wee.” Thanks, Mr. Ben!
PeeWee was the runt of the bunch. Having four older (and much bigger) brothers, he had to make up for his stature in his attitude of toughness. In fact, he was more mischievous than any of his brothers. As a result, he was also always in more trouble.
He and his gang of friends loved to terrorize the neighborhood and local playground. They liked to spit and bully the other kids. If they wanted to swing, they knocked out whoever was swinging. They had to have their way in everything. If any adults complained to their parents, they would just shrug and say, “Oh, they're just being boys. They don't mean any harm.” Their parents was just glad they weren't bothering them. They had too much to do with their jobs, church activities and social lives to teach their children that bullying was wrong. Besides, they learned all about bullying in church, school and watching TV. They weren't really hurting anyone.
No one was immune to their pranks and bullying. They made faces and called their classmates names; they tied cans to stray dogs and chased them with sticks; they called the elderly rude names as they passed by. They loved taunting the old people because they couldn't run away from them. All they would do was mutter and shake the occasional cane their way.
One day, an old man sat on the park bench, feeding the ducks. PeeWee was passing by, without his usual entourage. The sight of an old man, whom he didn't know calmly feeding ducks gave PeeWee pause for some reason. He didn't know why, but there seemed to be an aura of tranquility around the man. He had never seen the man before, and he knew everyone in the neighborhood. And everyone certainly knew PeeWee.
“Hey, old man, watcha doin?” PeeWee asked. He was trying to think of a way to unnerve the old man or at least pull a good prank on him.
The old man responded, “Feeding the ducks. And don't call me 'old man.”
Surprised, Peewee shouted, “Well you are an old man! Why I bet you're older than dirt!”
“PeeWee, why do treat people the way you do?” the old man calmly said. PeeWee was stunned. “How do you know my name?” He demanded.
“That does not matter,” answered the old man. “What matters is your reasoning for your actions.”
“Well,” PeeWee replied slowly, “I'm small for my age. If I don't get the upper hand, everybody will make fun of me.” Though the words came from PeeWee, he was surprised at his own admission. Never before had he stopped to consider why he acted as he did. He had always just thought of himself as having fun.
“Son,” the old man said, “one day you will be my age and realize how much love you have lost in your life by acting the bully. People are not playthings to push around and terrorize. People are to love and respect; to help; to lift up when they are discouraged. Life has a way of bullying on its own without boys like you to help.”
The man slowly got to his feet and turned to PeeWee, who sat thinking hard. “There is a commandment given by God about how to treat your fellow man. We are to love others as we love ourselves there's a comma after the period when he decided. If you don't even like yourself, how can you like anyone else? How can you love God if you don't even obey Him?”
“I … I …” PeeWee stuttered. It was true; sometimes he really didn't like himself. But how did the old man know that. And what about God? He saw everything? And if his Sunday school teacher was right, PeeWee would have to stand before God one day and tell Him why he was so mean to people. Bowing his head, PeeWee asked, “What's the rule?”
“It is the Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'”
“But, what does that mean exactly?” PeeWee looked up and the old man was gone. He couldn't see him anywhere. He sat on the bench watching the ducks until darkness fell. Everyone that saw him was astounded; they had never seen him sit that still and quiet. He didn't make fun of anyone; made no rude comments and petted a stray dog absent mindedly instead of torturing him.
That night, PeeWee couldn't stop thinking about the old man and all he had said. Was he really that bad? He drifted to sleep and dreamt. His dreams took him scene to scene. He saw himself as others did; the bully who made the girls cry; the dog with no home being chased with shouts and rocks; the old man who was already in too much pain to walk having to hear the jeers of the youngsters. It was a bad night. As dawn broke over the horizon, PeeWee had one final dream. He saw a man healing the sick and teaching love. The man had gentle eyes; eyes just like the old man in the park. PeeWee watched as the man was bullied, beaten, and hung on a cross. Suddenly, PeeWee knew it was Jesus.
PeeWee woke in tears, kneeling by his bed to ask forgiveness. From that moment on, PeeWee was a different boy. He no longer terrorized his neighborhood, but became everyone's best friend; because he wanted to be like Jesus.
Who do you want to be?