as we watched 

the big kids perform

‘a christmas carol’

the kinder 

kept whispering

and asking 

‘why is that man so mean?’

‘why is he so crabby?’ 

‘how can he be that mean?’

I told them that later in the play

mr. scrooge’s heart will grow

and he will learn to be nice 

just like what happened to the grinch

 it made my own heart grow

 to think about

their innocence 

their naturally kind and compassionate state of being

how they could not even begin to imagine

why someone would choose to be mean.

—

‘i think being nice is more important than being clever.’

-ricky gervais