Published 10/14/19
By Greg Johnson
What If...
Ah, lunch time. Your favorite half hour.
As usual, the cafeteria is a madhouse. The kids who bring their lunch head for the milk line; the hot-lunchers get to stand and wait a little longer.
On this particular day, your class has arrived a little early. A younger grade is still ahead of you in line. As everyone crowds, some kids in your class notice a couple of overweight little kids with glasses. Since your classmates are just waiting in line, they figure they’re entitled to some “entertainment.” They immediately start in.
“Look, it’s the Four Eyes twins,” says one.
“And doesn’t their hair look pretty all slicked back like that?” says another.
“I can see they haven’t lost their baby fat yet, either. Are you sure you shouldn’t just skip a few lunches so you can slim down?”
You look around for a teacher to come to the rescue, but they’re all busy at the back of the line. As the kids from your class keep it up, one of the little kids tries to give it back. He actually gets in a few good lines. This gets some laughs and the older kids get mad–that’s when the pushing starts.
“Oh yeah? Why don’t we just skip lunch and go outside? We’ll see how funny you are out there,” an older kid says to the younger one.
The little guy keeps his mouth closed. He realizes he’s said too much. The older guy doesn’t like the silence and slugs him on the arm. It was a hard hit, and you could tell it must have hurt, but the younger kid doesn’t move.
Now the older kid is really mad.
You look around and see there are no teachers nearby to break up the fight. It’s up to you.
Questions to Think On
• If the kids doing the teasing were a little bigger than you, what would you do?
• Have you ever come to someone’s rescue before? Has anyone ever stuck up for you?
• Why do you think big kids pick on littler ones?
• Mom and Dad: Why do you think the strong pick on the weak?
What Does God Have to Say?
Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:4
He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker, whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished. Proverbs 17:5
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