Today I refereed an apparently critical disagreement over ownership of a tiny shiny gold cardboard box. The box in question was empty until MeiLin put a gift in it for a friend. The box in question had existed in the nebulous position of "not up, not down, but half way on the stairs" for an indeterminable period of time. The box in question is claimed by Maiya, who says it is part of her collection.
Amazingly, my sum total of 20+ years of formal education, a couple of degrees and quite a bit of butterfly-herding business experience has not prepared me for such a task. I failed to address the ownership issue to the satisfaction of either, was too tired and simply sent them upstairs to get ready for bed, stating "we will figure this out later".
Which brings me to another question: how many lip balms do two girls need before they actually start using them?
2 comments:
The urge to own is strong. To lay claim is to own and to own is to possess. Whatever we possess we can claim to control, which brings us a small measure of comfort in a very un-comforting and confusingly messy world. Even kids somehow, like homing pigeons, home in on the need to own. As in, "go and sell all you own, give it to poor, and come follow me." The rich young man went away sad. Sad, because while he was not bad, his urge to own was stronger than his need to find the Kingdom. Your mission, which you have chosen to accept, is to help MeiLin and Mayia see that is actually better to own little, as in, "freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."
So true...although I am pretty sure they think I am the crazy mad recycling woman right now. They regularly check the trash and recycling -- they suspect me.
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