TheBanyanTree: The Alley School

[Tom Smith]

                    The Alley School

Once upon a time I worked outdoors in a job I loved.  Served
the public maintaining school grounds.  I liked being trusted
and left alone.  Didn't have to please anybody with money and
power or help anyone acquire money and power.  Odd as it may
seem, I knew others with my job who were dissatisfied. I
wondered if "happiness" was something you gave yourself.

I had this question in mind one day on a routine litter patrol
in an alley bordering an inner-city school.  Picking up a soggy
empty grocery bag, my inner speculator offered in a whisper
(Maybe enjoyment is something you create..) 

Two small dogs near a wire fence barked loudly at the children
walking by and at a girl in particular who was sticking her
hand through that fence, offering herself in friendship.  The
dogs seem intimidated and confused and continued barking. They
quieted down gradually, after the girl gave up and walked away,
looking down.

I heard a shout, sounding jubilant, exultant, from somebody at 
the far end of the alley.  The commotion aroused more
curiousity than alarm.  A more immediate issue was to see if
the lock nearby had been changed to give me the access I'd been
promised.  Not yet.  I picked up some weathered sun-browned
pieces of paper and left little piles of dogpoo as they were.

A woman, towing a child in each arm, kind of skipped toward
me. Reminded me of Mary Poppins going up the mountain.  I
ducked into the driveway to the cafeteria loading dock, where
the litter was the worst yet. The woman stopped and looked
directly at me.  She sang, like a friend wanting to share an 
exciting discovery, "I CAN BE ANYTHING I WANT TO BE!"

Caught off-guard, I looked down and picked up part of a white 
plastic spoon, and while lifting it, sensed the presence of an 
energy that felt magical.  She turned and walked away. I wanted
to hold on to her, say something to bring her back. I heard 
myself call out, "What do you want to be?"

She stopped, looked at me with eyes innocent and open and 
sincere, and said "I want to be HAPPY!"  And there you have it. 
Happiness IS something you give yourself.