Ruach USA

"I Remember" There was a day when children could trust adults to look out for them. That is not so today. I always loved to go to Houston. I was called "KC" or "Kansas City" there. I didn’t like KC much, but the title set me apart from the gang. We used to play in a place called "The Pipe Yard." My aunt, Aunt Norma, lived in a subdivision called Pleasantville which bordered an industrial area where they made big pipes for whatever they made big pipes for. At certain times there would be a lack of inventory, and we would use this area to play baseball. Wonderful place to play! Aunt Norma lived on Candy Street. Her house sat in the bend on Candy Street and there was a bunch of children in the bend. Sometimes, as we played, there would be a railroader, that worked the tracks behind the houses across the street from Aunt Norma, who would drop bags of candy in whatever yard we happened to be playing in at the time. If we were in the pipe yard, we would run toward the tracks whenever we say him passing by. Sometimes we wouldn’t get anything, and other times we would get more than we had hoped for, but the idea of someone thinking about us was novel. Recently, I was in Pleasantville and as I surveyed the area where we played, lost baseballs, aggravated neighbors, stole pears and threw water-balloons, I thought of the "Candy-Man." Where was he? What was he doing? Who was he? Why did he care about a bunch of unruly children? Maybe the "Candy Man" was onto something. Maybe he knew that if he showed he cared, we might be better adults someday. Most of the crew has gone on, and I rarely see them when I visit, but I remember the example of that anonymous gentleman and try to emulate his love with the things I do for our community’s youth. Paul tells us to not provoke our children to wrath. Maybe a little well placed candy might help!