In light of the legal decisions that were made regarding marriage this week, I decided to write a little story today.
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The Building Club was awesome! Bobby had been a member of the club for two years. He and the other boys and girls had carefully followed the instruction books to many amazing miniature plastic works of art. They’d built expansive villages, full stadiums and detailed boats and cars, among many other things. The group had always worked well together and enjoyed playing with their working, well-crafted creations.
But today was a new day. Bobby had decided to build his own creation. This time the group was beginning work on a castle. As the group carefully opened the box, sorted the bags of tiny plastic pieces and began reading from the instruction book, Bobby had his own idea. I can make a castle my own way. Who needs that instruction book? I can make a castle just the same without that, maybe even better! And that is what Bobby set off to do.
The other children hated to see Bobby go away to build a castle. They enjoyed building with him, but what could they do? Every one of them knew that they needed the instruction book in order to build the castle properly. They saw the picture of the castle on the box cover and wanted to be sure to make it right, just the way it was intended to be. So they had to let Bobby go, but they knew they would miss him as they worked.
As Bobby left he was very sure of himself. He didn’t need those boys and girls in the Building Club to tell him the right way to build a castle. No. He could make a castle his own way. And he would. He walked to the store and used his own money to buy his own box. Then he went home to his bedroom and spread out the individual bags of small plastic pieces – gray, red, black, silver – and began building. He carefully put together piece after piece. Bobby was proud of himself as he looked at what he had created so far. See, I don’t need to follow the instruction book. I can build a perfectly fine castle my own way. I’ll show those kids in that club who’s right and who’s wrong. And Bobby kept building. And building.
After a while the kids in the club came to visit Bobby. “Bobby, we missed you today. Do you want to see our castle? It’s so amazing! You’ve got to see it!” Bobby did not want to see their castle. He wanted to keep working on his. In fact, he liked the way that his castle looked so much that he thought that they should change their castle to be like his. So he showed them his creation. When the boys and girls in the club saw his castle, they didn’t think that their castle should be just like his. They could see that Bobby’s castle had some problems and they tried to show Bobby, but he didn’t want to listen. He decided that they were being mean and told them to go away so that he could finish building his castle. His way.
Finally, Bobby finished his castle. He was so happy! He took the knights and the horses and began playing, but he soon learned that his castle did have problems. The drawbridge wouldn’t open. The secret door would not close. And the silver bricks in the staircase kept falling out. Ugh. Bobby tried to fix them, but he didn’t know how. Maybe my friends were right, he thought. I guess I should have followed the instruction book. And I shouldn’t have expected the club to change their castle. My friends really were trying to help me. They’re not mean. They were being kind to me. Well, I guess it’s time to start over, but this time I’ll follow the instruction book and make the castle the way it was intended to be. I wonder if my friends will still let me build with them in the club?
Bobby soon found out that they did.
Lori Schulz 