I Think I'll Be A Tow Truck Driver

"Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music." ~William Stafford

My friend has the cutest three year old son you'll ever meet.  Big ol' blue eyes and blonde hair and the cutest little grin.  Yesterday, she told me a story about this little one that really made me think.

One morning before school, the three year old and his five year old brother were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up.  The three year old said, "I want to help people."  His brother replied, "Brother, that's great!  You can be a doctor."  The three year old said, simply, "No, I think I'll be a tow truck driver."

To the three year old, it was simple.  He wanted to help people.  Sometimes, people's cars break down and they need a tow.  Being a tow truck driver helps people.  That's what he'd do.

The innocent view of the world from the eyes of a child is something to which our adult eyes have grown blind.  We are consumed with power and prestige and money and reputations.  Often, even when we say we want to "help people" we are really trying to help our own pocket books.

But what if we lived our adult lives with three year old eyes?  What if we set out each day thinking, "I want to help people" and then just did that.  Even if it meant unglamorous, but helpful things like driving tow trucks?  What if we just started small...we opened doors, we let someone get in during rush hour traffic, we helped the woman carrying the groceries to her car, we bought food for the homeless man on the corner?  My guess is that if we did these small things, we'd move right on to doing bigger things.

Even if my little friend doesn't become a tow truck driver, I hope that he keeps his three year old eyes and goal of helping people.  And I hope that I can take this glimpse through his eyes and apply his logic to my own life.  Because think of what a great place the world would be if we all set out each day to be a tow truck driver...