Missing Markers

FAIRNESS ASKS, “HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?” UNFAIRNESS ANSWERS, “THIS IS DIFFERENT.”

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Psalm 106:1-3.

Verse of the Day: “Happy are those who deal justly with others and always do what is right” (Psalm 106:3).

Nakeesha counted her colored markers for the third time, hoping that she had counted wrong the first two times. But she had counted correctly. Two markers were missing.

“Somebody took my markers!” she told her friend Karissa. Recess had just started, and the other desks in the classroom were empty.

“How do you know?” Karissa asked.

“Look! They’re gone. The red and the-the dark purple.”

“Are you sure you didn’t lose them?” Karissa suggested.

“No!” Nakeesha answered, her eyes flashing. “Somebody stole them!” She looked around the classroom with narrowed, suspicious eyes. “Maybe it was Tanya. No, I bet it was Christopher.”

“Why?” Karissa asked.

“Because he’s a thief. He’s always stealing things from people.” “That’s not fair,” Karissa said. “You don’t know that.”

“Leave me alone!” Nakeesha snapped. Her eyebrows shadowed her eyes. “I should take something from everyone in this whole class,” she muttered. “That would teach them not to mess with my markers!”

“You can’t do that,” Karissa whispered in a pleading tone.

“Yes, I can!” Nakeesha said.

“You’re going to take something from everybody because one person took something from you?”

“Yeah!” Nakeesha answered. She stepped up to the desk in front of her hers.

“Nakeesha!” Karissa said, stamping her foot. “How would you feel if someone took your things because somebody else took theirs?”

“This is different,” Nakeesha said.

“Why?”

“Because my markers are special. I only use them for special things, like …” She stopped suddenly, as if she had just remembered something. She turned away from her friend and dashed toward the closet, where her art frock was hanging. She dug frantically in the large pockets and pulled out two markers-a red one and a dark purple one. Her eyes grew wide, and she looked sheepishly at her friend, who stood with her hands propped on her hips. “Funny, huh?” Nakeesha said.

“Yeah,” Karissa answered, shaking her head. “Real funny.”

TO DISCUSS: Do you think it would have been wrong for Nakeesha to take something from each of her classmates? Why or why not? Who decides whether a thing is fair or not: you or God?

TO PRAY: “Lord, we want to be fair because you are fair.”