My Jesus Christ

When I was at the age of four or five, I was privileged to encounter Him.

We played a ball game like baseball on the playground of our kindergarten.

The game couldn’t be a serious one at all. We were just passing a free time.

Towards the end of the game, however, my feeling got tense since my side was losing. I was obviously unhappy with the game and started blaming one of my team mates for having played poorly on the way back to our classroom. I was attributing the loss to him.

Just in front of the room, another friend who played the other side came to me. I kept on throwing nasty words at the same friend. I should admit that those were too much even if I was yet to learn self-control. Hence, his purpose was obvious: To stop my disgusting blaming.

That was more than forty years ago, but, I still wonder if the incident took place between kids aged four or five. His strategy was witty and kind. He did not tell me to stop blaming or be kind to friends. Instead, he cast a riddle at me. Partly because of my excitement, I failed to give the answer replying in embarrassment ‘I don’t know’. He won, or rather, succeeded his project!

His riddle embarrassed me, which he no doubt recognized.

He then said to me with a bit of contempt, ‘You too have things you can’t do well.’

We’ve never seen each other since the pre-school. But, as time goes by, my sense of gratitude for his words keeps on renewing itself.