Theme: Error, repair, free will
The
graffiti wall
Claudio entered the house with his head bowed. He went
straight to his room and closed the door. He and other
boys had painted the wall of Mr. Ernesto's house, which
lived on the other block, and now he was sorry to have
done it.
The wall had recently been painted,
but they left it streaked and stained.
Claudio knew what was right and what
was wrong. And smearing the neighbor's wall with paint
was definitely wrong.
However, to his friends it seemed
like a great adventure, and they were excited. When
Claudio threatened to give up on the idea, they called
him a coward and said that Mr. Ernesto was a grumpy old
man who deserved an ugly house. In order not to upset
his friends, Claudio ended up participating in the
graffiti, but now he felt bad about it.
Lying on his bed, several thoughts
crossed his mind:
“And now, what should I do? If I tell
Mom and Dad, they'll scold me! Maybe it is better to go
and apologize to Mr. Ernesto and explain that I didn't
want to do that, that was Tonho's idea. Maybe he will be
angry only with Tonho, but then Tonho will be angry with
me. I won't have the courage to tell anyone. What if
someone finds out? Will I be arrested?”
Claudio went to sleep late, tormented
by remorse and bad thoughts. The next day, as soon as he
came out of his bedroom, his parents asked him to talk.
They explained that Mr. Ernesto had
been there earlier. He showed a footage that his front
neighbor had done with his cell phone, in which Claudio
appeared with other boys, graffiti on the wall.
Claudio went pale. He said nothing
and started to cry.
When he was able to speak, he
explained to his parents everything that had happened
and how he felt. His mother consoled him:
- I'm glad you're sorry, son. It is
important to recognize our mistakes when we do wrong.
- Sometimes - said the father - we
end up doing things that we are not proud of, because we
are still imperfect, and we are learning to live
according to the laws of God.
Upon hearing those words, Claudio
smiled in relief. It looked like a huge weight had come
off his back. He thought his parents were being quite
reasonable:
- Gee, thanks! Look, don´t worry, I
will never do that again, I promise!
And, thinking that the matter was
closed, Claudio turned and was about leaving the room,
when his mother said:
- Wait a minute, son. We're not done
yet. Regretting is the first step, now you have to make
amends for your mistake.
- That's right - continued the father
- and that's why you will go to Mr. Ernesto's house
right now to apologize. And you will use your money to
buy new paint and paint the wall on the weekend.
- What? why just me? - Replied
Claudio - The true offender was Tonho, he should do all
this.
- We cannot blame others for your
mistake. They are responsible for their actions. You are
responsible for your actions and your choices. You can
talk to Tonho and the others if you want, but the
consequence of your attitude is your responsibility -
explained the mother.
Claudio was unable to argue and ended
up doing what his parents recommended. He was very
ashamed when he apologized to Mr. Ernesto. And he was
very disappointed with Tonho, who did not want to help
by buying paint or painting the wall.
But Claudio became closer to Robinho,
who also felt like him, and helped him with everything.
The two were very tired of painting the wall on Saturday
and finishing up the painting on Sunday.
But it was worth it, because in the
end, everything was fine. Mr. Ernesto even became
sympathetic to Claudio and jokingly told him when he saw
him:
- Hey Claudio, if you want to paint
my wall again, I'll leave it, ok?
Claudio was sometimes ashamed to
remember that he had painted the wall. But not much,
because he soon remembered the rest of the story and
knew that if he had made a mistake in the beginning, he
had done the right thing in the end.
Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com
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