The kids all lined up with eager expectation, baskets in hand, to listen to the rules of the contest. There were plenty of eggs for everyone. In fact, the adults have calculated that each kid could have 30-35 eggs of their own. So be nice. Share. And don't fight over the Easter eggs. Now, go!
The kids scrambled out into the yard and the fastest and strongest outpaced the slow and the weak. Kids old enough to know better stuffed their baskets full of eggs while the toddlers struggled to find four or five without having them swiped from under their feet. It was a dog eat dog world out there.
After the 15 minutes of chaotic avarice, the children were called together. The adrenaline of the competition waned and some of the older children, coming to their senses, were a bit embarrassed by the plenty of their own baskets compared to the scarcity of the younger children's baskets. I witnessed as one of the older girls came and offered to my little daughter some of her own candy. "It's not really fair," she explained, "for me to have so much and for her to not have enough." We smiled and thanked her warmly, commending her for exhibiting the better qualities of humanity.
Odd, isn't it? Children seem to understand. Those who have more than they need share with the ones who don't have enough. The unwritten rule that each child understands is that fairness is equality. Justice demands that the big kids watch out for the little kids. If only the adult world worked the same way...
"In reply he said to them, 'Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.'" - Luke 3:11
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