Thought of the Day 08.06.08

My two boys are wonderful angels…until you put them together in the same room. The other day, they wanted to lay down in front of the floor fan in our bedroom, but they both wanted to sit directly in front of it. This led to pushing and yelling with occasional requests for me to play the part of U.N. peacekeeper. So I told Spencer he should go use the fan in their room. But no sooner had he left than Ethan tore after him to get to the other fan first.

Some non-actionable screaming came from the front of the house while I sat laughing at the abandoned fan next to me. A few moments passed and I heard the butterfly footsteps of two preschoolers rush into our room and again commence hostilities over who would get this one. Had I not intervened, this could have continued all day.

So the next time someone tells me that the problems of conflict and envy in our society would be solved by having more resources or a more equitable distribution of them, I think I’ll just invite him over to my house to learn a little something about basic human nature.