Published: April 01, 2008 06:32 pm         

LION AND THE LAMB: Get ready or plan to be left behind

The Kid and the Cub were on their cell phones.

“You told your mother I was thinking of dropping out of school, didn’t you?” the Cub was saying.

“I did,” the Kid admitted. “You didn’t say that I shouldn’t tell her. We’re friends. he cares about you. She’s interested in what you’re planning.”

“I’m not planning anything,” the Cub answered. “I just want a car and some spending money. My uncle Dub will give me a job helping him build houses. Did you tell her that?”

The Kid paused. “Yes. I didn’t know it was a secret.”

There was no quick answer from the Cub. He was thoughtful when he spoke again. “It’s no secret. I’m just thinking about it. What did your mom say?”

It was the Kid’s turn to pause. “You won’t like what she said,” the Kid answered, at last.

“Try me,” the Cub said.

“She said you shouldn’t drop out and that your uncle Dub should respect you enough to pass on real wisdom from your heritage and not tell you things you’ll need to unlearn to get by if you need to go somewhere else to make your own life.”

“What does she mean by that?” the Cub asked.

“She means that you might make enough to have a different car every few years and a nice house and plenty of opportunities. You might even do okay always looking for work.”

The Cub knew there was more to what the Kid’s mother had said. “Yeah,” the Cub said, “but that’s not what she really thinks.”

“No,” the Kid answered. “She says students who drop out tend to drive old cars. They may marry drop outs and have kids who drop out. Their lives can be troubled struggles.”

The Cub was not pleased by that dismal picture. “What do you think?” he asked.

The Kid had a ready answer. “If you drop out you’ll probably work for a lot less than you could make if you finish high school and go to college. If you drop out, and you outgrow your old job some day and want to get into a different kind of work, you may be stuck because no one will give you a chance when they find out you quit high school.”

“Well,” the Cub answered, “my uncle Dub never finished high school. He does okay. He says education is not what it’s cracked up to be. It makes taxes high and turns people into fools.”

The kid shot back his answer. “Your uncle Dub is not the one who has to begin a life in today’s world. He has done okay, but when he retires, if he has nothing but his social security, he won’t be able to travel a little and relax in some nice places and have good meals out and do things for his grandkids. He deserves respect, but my mom says he’s not a good role model for you. She says you need to get to work and graduate and maybe go to college and get your chance at a good job that maybe hasn’t been invented yet, but that will give you a good life and a little freedom.”

“You and your mom worry too much,” the Cub said. “We’re young. All that’s far away. We may not even get old.”

The Kid was skeptical. “Don’t bet on not getting old. Mom says the world is moving so fast that if you get behind, you can get old before you ever catch up. If you were a turkey tom rather than a lion cub, she’d say and that you need to get serious about school if you don’t want to spend your life stuck in quicksand, because you can’t get off the ground with only one wing.”

This column is sponsored by Cumberland Countians for Peace and Justice, an organization composed of representatives from various churches in the area, and dedicated by the local writers to the theme that the lion and the lamb can and must learn to live together and grow in their relationship toward one another to ensure a better world. Opinions expressed in “Lion and the Lamb” columns are not necessarily those of the Crossville Chronicle publisher, editor or staff. For more information, contact Emerson Abts, editor, at 277-5101.