Little Tough Guy

There's this little tough guy who has been coming to Kids Klub.

It's a harsh world when you learn to be tough at only six or seven years old, but this is life as he knows it.

In the Projects, where he lives, it's not unusual to see a police car or two or three as I'm picking up children or taking them home.

Little Tough Guy's standard remark is this:

"I HATE COPS."

I've discovered it's basically fruitless to try to argue that cops are there for his protection, and that if you're not doing anything wrong, you don't need to fear them.

He still hates cops.

I recently had a chance to talk to his older sister and gained a little perspective on the situation. You see, there's no daddy at Little Tough Guy's home.

He's in jail.

Who do you think put him there?

It's those cops he hates so much.


Lord of reality,
make me real.

I don't want to tell it like it is,
but to be it like You want it.
I don't want to be a census taker
but an obstetrician,
nor an involved person, a professional,
but a friend.
I don't want to be insensitive,
but to hurt where other people hurt,
nor to say I know how you feel,
but to say God knows,
and I'll try if you'll be patient with me,
and meanwhile I'll be quiet.


- Excerpts from Joseph Bayly's A Psalm of Singlemindedness