On The Fence

At the old dinner table showing the wear of fifteen years through its scratches and dents, Pa looked around at his family. He saw his wife, petite and cute, who he adored to the moon and back; he saw his two children, Luke at age 11 and Anna at age 15. They beamed with happy smiles because he and his wife had raised them to be thankful for the bounty they enjoyed on their farm even though to most it was only a little to live on. Now, their nearest neighbor down the street a few miles was a young newlywed couple: he was a lawyer who’d moved from Boston and the large firm he practiced for to this small country town with his new bride who came from a large ranch near the Kansas border. He was starting his own firm in the city thirty miles off. Pa had talked to them earlier that day and the young man said that his latest case involved a politician who’d taken bribe money under the table in order to send his son to college because he hadn’t received his bonus and his bills were taking most of his income. The young lawyer told Pa that he couldn’t decide in his own mind- outside the case- whether the man’s reasoning was credible enough to say that it was okay to take the bribe. Pa relayed this story to his family at dinner and told them his opinion on it. “You can’t be on the fence- as they say- about anything. Because think about a real fence; how uncomfortable would it be to sit up there trying not to fall off either side while the post or barbed wire is digging into your rear? You’d be better off picking a side to stand on, even if it’s wrong. Then you’d know for sure which side was the right one.” Ma smiled to Pa; Luke asked if they could pray for their neighbor and Anna readily agreed. After Pa said the prayer, they all chimed together, “Amen.”