"The child in man is not dead, but sleeps; it awakens at the call of other children." --Comtesse Diane
One day a nine-year-old boy and a man began a walk together to the beach. The man's body was on vacation, many miles away from home and business, but his heart was still business-blinded. He thought his duty was to make sure that the boy and he got to the beach efficiently. Since another child had already started walking ahead with his grandfather, this man wanted to hurry and catch up with them.
The nine-year-old boy had a less-pressing agenda. He found a small rock and began kicking it down the road. It took effort to keep the stone ahead of him, but the boy saw no reason why the rock could not keep them company on the way.
"Come on, now!" the man scolded. "I don't want to wait for you to kick that rock!" Resignedly, the boy kicked it to the side of the road and began walking silently beside his father.
Suddenly the father stopped. We cannot say why. Perhaps he just
then realized that the beach is not a board meeting. Or that
sunshine is enjoyed best without a sundial. Maybe the eyes of
his heart caught something in the face of the boy. Or perhaps
just then his own boyishness flashed to the surface. We know
only that he turned to the boy and said, "How 'bout if I
help you and we kick it together?"
"O.K.!" said the boy, and he quickly retrieved the rock. Soon four feet were scuffling in the dust of the road, and the man was trying to show the boy his idea of a "good kick." And somewhere in the magic of their slow and halting progress, the man and the boy became father and son. They discussed the best way to kick such a small rock and experimented freely as they passed it back and forth between them. They shouted unabashed praise and admiration at each other's well-placed kicks and laughed together at the other ones. And the father discovered anew that morning what the boy had known all along. Kicking rocks can be fun.
Fun is not complicated. It need not be expensive. All you need is a road and a rock.
Companionship is not complicated. It need not be expensive. All you need is something to share and someone to share it with.
The father did not solve any major problems that day, and the world may never know about his walk to the beach. But for a moment there were two less troubled hearts in the world because a father kicked at a rock with his son. Perhaps some of that good continues yet.
From rocks to rockets, we see the digression of man's toys. God gave us plenty of the first. Man makes the second. Rockets cost more and make more noise, but we could do without them.
How poor we would be without rocks. This world needs more boyish fathers and less businessmen. It needs fathers willing to kick rocks with their children. And children willing to teach them how.
Back to Contents Does God Exist?, May/Jun97.