2004-01-22 - 11:30 a.m. Pony There is a lot out there to be excited for. Now at the risk of becoming Gumpcheese, I would like to point out that every day offers new and wonderful things. These things can be very small or very big, but they exist, and you can find them. I also think that every day horrible things happen, things that make life not worth living, and things that make you wonder why you should ever go on. But I have to hope that usually there are more good things than bad things in this world. So let me tell you a story. I used to work with children. -- Frightening.-- I would play games with them, teach them about life and school, and try to be a positive influence, as best I could. I also sometimes had to be an enforcer. This was with a group of inner city youth, because Gump can�t work with the normal, oh no, I try mostly for the insane. There was one kid�his name was �Pony� Now you might be thinking �My little pony� and you would be half right. Wilson, who was 6-8 while I supervised him, got the name Pony because he used to go up to girls and ask them: �Do you want to ride my pony� Which happened to be very little. And then he would break into a grinding motion which I can only describe as �sensual.� They would scream and run away. This is a reaction I wonder why girls still don�t have to this day. Pony�s dad is in jail for a long time for dealing drugs to a undercover cop. Sadly, I don�t know what Pony has been told by his mother. Pony�s mom, like most of the mom�s in the program was trying to raise her children the best she could without a male rolemodel. Life is so hard, and as much as she tried she couldn�t help but let her son be exposed to the scum of the earth, which I am told is mostly his uncle; the drug dealer. And the originator of the �pony term� Pony never really understood what the term meant. However this action was not something that we could allow no matter the level of ignorance. But I can have a heart sometimes, and instead of punishing him for his comments, which was typically separation from the group and a removal of privileges, I would usually make him dance in front of the class. This is because he liked to dance, but I wouldn�t let him stop until he �showed me something.� I wanted him to try and impress me, for which, I would always praise him. Pony was always up to the challenge. He was a really good dancer and would do these moves which I could never dream of doing. He also had this rhythmic hip shaking thing that he did so well he could make his pants fall off, exposing his pokemon tighty whities. I, laughing, would instruct him that his �drawers� are to remain underneath the pants at all times. He said that he understood, but sometimes the dance would win, and Pikacu would come out to play. But Pony was happy when he was doing this, and I could also see that he appreciated me in a way that I�ll never really understand. When a child hugs you, I don�t think you ever really know what to do. The child is just doing what they feel they should, and haven�t yet learned is inappropriate. I wish adults sometimes could do what they feel they should, and ignore the embarrassment associated with emotions. Wilson told me once that I was the only white guy he had ever met, and that I was pretty cool. I understand his world is mostly run by women, through his schooling, daycare, and home-life. The only men he meets were friends of his uncles. Pony was a riot, and I really hope he made it. I know that most of the youth in my program don�t make it, but every now and then you hear about something great. Spending time with a kid like that can teach you a lot of things. The first and most apparent thing is that the world is a cruel place that tears up anyone who can�t keep pace, no matter how big, or how small. The second is that people, no matter what there background, can be so simple and yet make such a profound impact on your life. So I hope that someday I hear that pony has settled down with his Mare, and that his life did not turn out to be so cruel. But that�s what people do. We hope. | |||||||||||
