When I was 6 years old, my mom asked me what I REALLY wanted for Christmas.
“Really?” I said, “Anything?”
With 7 kids to get presents for, they were limited to only $20 per kid, so she asked me again,
“What do you REALLY want?”
“A plunger.” I said.
“What?”
“A plunger.”
My reasoning was simple. I knew at 6 years old that a plunger must be VERY valuable, because of two things:
- There was only one in our house, and
- They wouldn’t let me touch it.
“What will you do with it?” my mom asked.
“I want to use it to play like I’m Spiderman sticking to the kitchen floor, or pretend it’s a peg-leg, or use it like a sword, or stick it inside my shirt like I got hit with an arrow!”
When Christmas morning came, I didn’t think I was going to get my beloved plunger.
But I did.
And how happy I was!
Later on I became a teacher, and I tell the story to my students, but I add this:
“I misinterpreted it’s use. For what was actually a tool I thought was a toy.
I was using it for all these things, but it wasn’t made for any of them.
I think that in life we have desires and things that we think we should be. And there are all these things we can do in our lives, but we were really made for a special purpose. At first glance, like the plunger, we seem awkward and difficult to know what we were made for. Yet, because you have a purpose, those weird things about you are there for a reason, part of your design, that isn’t always obvious, until your talents are needed. Then all those quirks come into use.
A plunger may seem like a humble instrument, made for only one thing, and perhaps not appear to be very important. But when you need one, it’s the only thing that will do! You may not think that your life has a purpose, but you are valuable, and when YOU are needed, NO ONE ELSE WILL DO!
© lisa elliott
Welcome to Goldenplunger, one of EDU Designs’ many efforts to improve character development through the arts and media.
EDU Designs is a California Non Profit 501 (c) (3) Corporation:
“… dedicated to produce and distribute multimedia materials for the education, motivation and character development of children”.
Find out more here: http://www.edudesigns.org/
