| The
Broken Windows |
| Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a little
boy
named Craig and he was about 7 or 8 years old. Craig was a good little
boy, but every once in awhile, he would get into mischief. Craig lived on a farm with his Mom, Dad and big brother Don (and Don’s family). On the farm was a large wooden red barn, the barn was tall and wide and long to hold many hay bales and a grainery to hold oats for the cattle. The wooden barn was built upon a stone foundation and supported by thick walls made of stones held together with mortar. There were glass windows built into wooden frames in the top of the stone walls to let light into this area. This lower floor of the barn was where the livestock (mostly cows and pigs) had shelter when the weather was bad. Craig’s Dad (Alonzo) had a good friend named Charles Anderson and the two men would get together frequently to visit and drink coffee. Craig knew that Mr. Anderson was not a farmer like his Dad, but he did not know what kind of work Mr. Anderson did. One day he asked his Dad about that and he was told that Mr. Anderson was an ‘insurance agent'. "What’s an insurance agent?" Craig asked. “Well, insurance is something that you buy a policy for and then if it breaks or burns down or is damaged somehow, the insurance company will pay for the damages. We have insurance through Mr. Anderson for the house, barn, car and other things around the farm.” Craig thought about this for a while and thought that ‘insurance’ was a neat idea. It was wintertime and Craig really loved to play in the snow. He especially loved to break icicles that hung down off of the roofs of the farm buildings in the winter. Craig would throw snowballs and other pieces of broken icicles at the long, fresh icicles. When he hit one, it would snap and break and fall to the ground and shatter to pieces. Craig LIKED that sound and he LIKED to see the icicle break into a MILLION pieces!!! One cold winter day in the late afternoon, Craig was out looking for icicles to break and there were very few. He wandered around the farm buildings and saw only small icicles that would be too hard to hit with a snowball - and if he was lucky and did hit one, he knew that there wouldn’t be much noise or breakage. Craig was disappointed about that. Out at the barn, he saw the glass windows and thought that maybe they will break and make lots of noise and pieces like the icicles. He aimed carefully and then threw a snowball and CRASH, a window broke! That was great fun, little Craig thought – but will I get into trouble to break the window? Then he remembered how his Dad explained that they have insurance for when things break and that Mr. Anderson will pay for the damage – so he picked up another snowball and threw it and CRASHED another window. This was great fun - and so he kept on throwing and throwing until he was all tired out and went inside for the evening. About an hour after Craig had come in, his big brother Don came running into the house all excited and mad. He told Craig’s Dad and Mom that someone had broken out nearly all the windows in the barn. “WHO DID THIS?” Craig’s Dad shouted! Craig was perplexed and surprised at all the fuss. “I did” said Craig. “WHAT!?!?!?!” screamed both his Dad and brother in a loud voice. “WHY did you break all the windows?” his Dad demanded. “Well, it’s fun to break glass, just like I break the icicles” said Craig “…and besides, we have insurance, so Mr. Anderson will pay for the broken glass” Craig explained. Craig’s Dad and brother were furious! His Dad wanted to give Craig a huge spanking for breaking the windows and Craig was scared! Fortunately for the little boy, his mother intervened and told the men that Craig didn’t understand about insurance and that he didn’t break the windows to be mean. After awhile, the men simmered down and they were not so mad anymore. In the end, Craig did not get spanked - but he was firmly scolded for what he had done. He had learned a lesson about causing damage AND about insurance. He learned that a person can’t willingly cause damage and then expect the insurance company to pay. He felt very bad to learn that his Dad would have to pay for all the windows that Craig had broken. Craig was very sorry and he never broke any windows again. Today, Craig is an old, old man - but he still remembers the lessons that he learned on that day. |
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