Yesterday I was teaching a class on birth order. There's not much scientific backing for it, but it can be interesting. It's all about how your position in the family (related to your siblings) affects your personality. Did you know that most people would prefer to be the oldest child (heh heh)?
Anyway, I was asking the class about advantages of being the oldest and youngest and middle and only child. When I got to the youngest, this one gentleman said, "there's nothing good about being the youngest - it's just all s***!" He went on to explain that he had the same birthday as his older brother, who was exactly one year older than him. Each year, his parents would wrap up the presents his brother had got the year previous and give them to him. And they'd have a cake for his brother and sing "Happy Birthday" and then take the used candle and put it in his own cake and sing to him. This man was very bitter, and is now estranged from his whole family. It broke my heart.
On a more cheeful note, we got *two* e-mails from Zimbabwe this week saying that they have not forgotten about us and are still checking on the progress of our visas. So, that's good...
1 comment:
Sometimes, things like that make me so sick to my stomach. In one instant, we can either bring instant joy into a child's life or crush their spirits entirely. And, usually, they're pretty simple requests, like being treated like an individual... or taking a trip to the dollar store. Crushing a child like that will leave scars for the rest of his life, which you have seen.
On the other note...good news! Keep us posted about Zimbabwe! I'm still prayin'!!!
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