Yesterday, I brought a batch of cupcakes to my son's school. In passing them out, I started to give one to one of the children, who was a JW. He immediately started freaking out and screaming "No thank you" over and over. So I got down to his level, and told him that it wasn't a cupcake for birthdays, it wasn't a cupcake for holidays, it was a cupcake (I almost used the word celebrating here, but decided that wouldn't be a good idea) because it was the last day of school. I told him I wouldn't make him take one, but since it wasn't a holdiay or birthday cupcake, I asked him if he wanted it. His eyes lit up, and he got the biggest smile on his face, and said "Oh, yes". I've helped 3 days a week in that school, and I'd never seen that child smile a smile that actually made it into his eyes. Two weeks into the school year, I thought it was really odd that he didn't ever seem to play, he just seemed to go through the motions of playing, and secretly voted him "most likely to go postal" in my head. And I didn't even know he was a JW at the time. I didn't know until the teacher said something right before Christmas about him being one. It made me really sad to think how many days I had been there, and never saw him smile a real smile.
Going home, I remembered an incident from when I was fairly young. Once my mom decided she wanted to go to a certain restaurant that was far fancier than any place we'd ever been to. The waitress asked what the special occasion was for our being there. My mom said we were just going to lunch, or something along those lines. So after the meal, the waitress and other people from the restaurant brought me a cupcake after the meal. She said something about my mom and I celebrating our time together, and I remember getting all upset, and telling her I couldn't have it. My mom told me I could, and I remember feeling this absolute luxurious feeling that I was doing something bad and getting away with it, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if eating the cupcake was actually wrong, and I was really upset afterward that I had eaten it.
I'm just glad my children won't grow up looking at cupcakes as something to be afraid of. To them, they're nothing more than a treat.
