For The Children

“I don’t like what Sarah is doing?” Jackie Bellhorn complains to Liza Mills, her manager.

“She is doing what she does for the children and isn’t breaking any laws around here?” Liza informs her.

“I want to come in early and leave early, too,” she protested.

“You don’t have a reputation of always coming in early. You don’t put in more time when we are short on staff and have more work. You give us the minimum. Sarah does the opposite,” Liza reminds her.

“So, it’s her reputation that allows her to do as she likes?” she argues.

“Some of us call it excellent work ethics,” Liza threw at her.

“She is the only employer around here that gets certain privileges. We would think she would be sleeping with the president if she were younger. How come she doesn’t win employee of the month or year all of the time?”

Liza sighed, staring at her while battling her rage. The ringing of her phone saved her. It was Jason Hardy, the President, who demanded that everyone meet him in the conference room immediately. His final words caused a tear in Liza’s heart, and she said to Jackie after she hung up, “How are your children doing?”

“Andrew wasn’t accepted to any of the colleges he applied for. Carla didn’t get the scholarship she thought she would get and was disqualified from the program because she was always late. Lance was suspended from school again,” she complained.

“What are you going to do?”

“They don’t listen, so they are on their own,” she said, nodding in frustration.

“James and Carla must help themselves, but Lance is only fourteen. How is he going to survive on his own?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care! He isn’t listening, so he must learn from life!”

Glaring at Liza with furled brows, she asked, “Why do you care what happened to my kids?”

Liza sighed, nodding, then revealed, “Mr. Hardy wanted us in the conference room now!”

A glint of guilt touched Jackie’s eyes that Liza saw, and she blinked to hide it as they headed to the conference room. Everyone was there waiting for them except Sarah.

Jason Hardy wasn’t dressed in his regular suit and tie, and he glanced around. Before he could ask, many angry voices said, “She is somewhere doing something for the children!”

His sudden outburst of laughter shocked everyone except Liza and their surprise increased when he said, “My mom isn’t aware that she has done enough goodness in this world to carry her present generation into several decades!”

“Sarah Mc Donald is your mother?” the audience cried out.

Jackie’s eyes clashed with Liza’s, and Liza smiled at the fear she saw riding across Jackie’s eyes.

“Oh yes,” he answered, smiling. “She used her maiden name to avert suspicion.”

“But she doesn’t behave as if she is even related to you,” a voice said.

“She doesn’t break the rules, is never late, and is kind to everyone,” another voice revealed.

“So that’s why she turned down all of the awards we offered her,” someone from HR informs.

Liza’s eyes were still on Jackie, whose head hung in her lap in shame.

“Yet HR has gotten more complaints about her than all of the other employees who have no respect for the rules this establishment has implemented,” Jason states.

Many heads went down, and he continued, “What did she do that stirs so much resentment?”

“She was too kind,” a voice confessed. “She was so good to our children that they obeyed her instead of us many times.”

“So, she threatens your motherhood?” he asked.

Someone else revealed, “Put yourself in our shoes. Your child that you gave birth to and raised isn’t listening to you but will listen to a stranger.”

“Did she tell your children bad things or try to help them?”

Nothing was said, and Jason waited for an answer. When none came, he enlightens, “When I was fourteen years old, I followed the bad company and was the lookout for my gang, who robbed a liquor store in the neighborhood. All of us were caught and arrested. We were charged as an adult because a gun was used in the robbery. When the owner discovered I was involved, he refused to press charges against me?”

“Why not,” many voices asked in unison.

“My mother was kind to his family. The law made him aware all of us were guilty. He made all four of us promise to change our lives. He would press charges if we got into trouble before our eighteenth birthday. Today, I own several businesses. Tom is a US senator. Sean is a family court judge, and Carlos is a Pastor. None of us have broken the laws or have been arrested after that incident. My mother was raised to live a good life so that kindness would protect her children. Every child in our world needs kindness to protect them. And the better we live as parents, the more help our children will get out there at the mercy of humanity’s cruelty and injustice. Someone will remember and return the kindness. When she leaves here after coming in early, she goes to the orphanage to help the children.”

“Damn!” several voices cried out with guilt in their heart.

“All she is doing is trying to save your children from the hell you lived and sent out there into the world that could harm them,” Jason reminds them.

“I am so sorry,” many voices apologize.

“You alone can’t raise your children. Mr. Robinson, the liquor store owner, became a second father to all four of us. His grandchildren work for all four of us, too. The good he does is still protecting them years after his death. My mother is trying to save your children from your sins. She isn’t aware that only you can do that,” he slams dunk.

“So, we are also in charge of our children’s fate and destiny, unaware,” Jackie’s conscience said in understanding.

“Now that some of you know, what will you do about it?” Liza shoves in.

Jason smiled at her, nodding in agreement.

Yes, many of us contribute to our children’s fate and destiny, unaware. We must live a good life so that kindness and good intentions can form a protective shield around our children when they need it.

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

Good and bad follow us and our generation. You have a choice. Make the best one. Your actions, choices, and decisions now can save a future life.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.