Day 1720: 5 Minute Freewrite CONTINUATION: Friday - Prompt: accidentally

in Freewriters2 years ago

Image by Magic Creative from Pixabay

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“Okay, so, there are some accidents that can't be cheered up,” Milton said to his father, Sgt. Vincent Trent. “If we don't pick all of these Legos up off the porch and somebody comes and trips and goes flying, the unhappiness of that accident is going to wreck everything in both our families.”

“That's right,” Sgt. Trent said.

“But let's say Grayson is building a stack here, and maybe he hasn't put his Legos together really tight, and then knocks them down.”

Grayson was demonstrating in real time, complete with jumping up and knocking the stack over and it falling apart.

“See, I can build it better the next time,” he said to Sgt. Trent, “and maybe add some more red to it. Robert [his five-year-old cousin and soon-to-be adopted brother] is always reminding me that everything is better with more red in it.”

“And maybe we can put a more stable base on it – we found in working on this that a pyramid is the most stable shape in the world!”

“Tetrahedron,” Grayson said as he reorganized his blocks. “T-E-T-R-A-H-E-D-R-O-N. You can build one as tall as you want, and it takes God to knock it down.”

“So, then we were thinking that maybe the Egyptians tried building skyscrapers our way, but then had an accident you know like the leaning towers of Pisa and San Francisco –.”

“Oh, you mean the Millennium Towers out there where Grandma Ludlow grew up?” Sgt. Trent said.

“Right,” Milton said. “Eleanor told us about it while we were thinking about this. An accident looking for a place to happen – just how do you put in 90-foot supports when you need 210-foot supports?”

“But that's not an accident,” Sgt. Trent said. “That's like leaving your Legos out when you know to put them away.”

“It will be an accident for whoever walks by there and sneezes the day it needs just that much wind to fall down, though,” Milton said.

“But since the Egyptians figured it all out,” Grayson said as he made the second level on his pyramid, “maybe the San Franciscans and the Pisans will too, and so the accident can be happy afterward.”

“And that's the thing, Dad – it depends on what you do after the accident that can cheer it up,” said Milton. “I mean, obviously we shouldn't leave Legos out to be stepped on or 90 feet of stuff when we need 210 feet of anything, but, since accidents still happen, we should look for the good in them!”

Andrew Ludlow came out of the house with his grandfather's Bible.

“Good afternoon, Uncle Sarge, sir – permission to join the conversation, sir.”

“Granted!”

“I found the Bible verse I was looking for, Romans 8:28 – 'For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to His purpose.' So, if you love God, and you are in His eternal family in Christ, you have all eternity to work with, so, sooner or later, all accidents will be made happy in God's plan. Papa says all the time: we have accidents, but God's plan covers them all.”

“Exactly!” Milton said. “That's it and now we have the verse for it!”

“Predestination,” said Grayson as he finished the fourth level of his pyramid. “P-R-E-D-E-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N. How God catches up all the stuff that happens accidentally to us, and keeps it in His plan anyway.”

“I see y'all have really been working on this,” Sgt. Trent said.

“Yep,” Milton said. “We thought it was kinda important.”

“And it is,” Sgt. Trent said. “Y'all now know how I stay so calm all the time, although I have not quite taken the time in my life to think this deeply about it.”

“Well, see, Dad, you were off serving our country,” Milton said, “but now that you are home, we can get into these things together!”

“We tell Papa this kind of stuff too,” Grayson said, “and it's really fun to learn new things together.”

“But you know what – speaking of serving,” Milton said, “we gotta serve our country too real quick – Andrew, do you think you can get your grandma to call San Francisco real quick and show them what Grayson is doing? Maybe they can rebuild the Millenium Towers as a tetrahedron real quick, and save it from falling!”

Andrew sighed.

“The thing is, it costs so much more money than building with Legos to take it all down and start again. They are hoping they can get it to stand up as it is, with extra supports around it – like more of a pyramid base.”

“Won't work,” Grayson said. “You gotta do things right from the beginning.”

“But you can stall for a long time to save money, Grayson,” Andrew said. “That's what they are trying to do. San Francisco also already has a pyramid-type building: the Trans-America building. They already have a model. They just chose not to use it. When people have the truth, and they just don't use it, how can you help them?”

Sgt. Trent thought about filling all the gaps in the reasoning of the children, but since their conclusions were largely correct, he stayed quiet and let his eight-year-old baby daughter say what needed to be said as Grayson capped off his Lego pyramid.

“Ain't it the truth, y'all, ain't it the truth,” Gracie said, and handed Grayson a nice sticker to put on top of his pyramid. “We just gotta do what we can do here.”

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Yep, there's really nothing to be done when people know the truth and refuses to utilize it in a way that won't cause harm.

Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome!

Nice story, Deeann.
Thanks for sharing it.

You're welcome, and thanks again for reading!

What great young philosophers you have in your story, @deeanndmathews. I love how there is a mixture of lego, spelling-bee, and deep philosophical thought. I can see why Gracie felt the need to give the whole thing a sticker. Brilliant!

These kids have been in my Sunday School classes over the years ... slightly different circumstances and characters, but they WORK ME ... let kids tackle big ideas, and this is what you get ... but it is good for everyone to let them explore all of the world of the intellect and the spirit in an honest way, because this is how we get adults who are encouraged and prepared to uphold free nations...

Couldn't agree with you more. It sounds like your pedagogy and mine are closely matched.