Archives at Zinester: "The List". "I Believe in You!".

"The list"
by Bob Perks

"Did you make the list today?" "No, it seems I'm not on it. Oh, I
didn't want to be any way."

"Hey, he removed my name from the list! '

"There's a list of names here and they are the finalists."

"From this list, we will pick the lead role for the play."

"Yes, I have a reservation for 2. What? My name's not on the list?"

"He's making a list and checking it twice. He's gonna find out whose
naughty or nice!"

Lists are important it seems. We get excited when we see our names on
certain lists and depressed when we don't. I've been on lists I wish I
hadn't been on. I've made lists that surprised even me.

Here's one I want you to think about. I received this message in
response to my last story about my son attending high school in the
midst of all the violence these days. My story was called, "God be with
him."
One of my friends on this list wrote:

"Bob,
Recently in my hometown a 15 year old girl committed suicide. Her note
named all the school classmates who had made fun of her."

Imagine for a moment finding your name on that list. How horrible that
would be.

What if our actions were tallied each day? At the end of the day your
name would end up on one list or another. What if someone was keeping
track of all you said and did?

Let's pretend for a moment that there were three lists. One was a list
of all who were compassionate, caring, loving, giving people who made a
difference in the world they lived in. Not just those striving to save
the world. But the average person who took the time to listen to a
stranger. The person who smiled at a passerby. The people who called
to check on a friend who was ill. The volunteers who gave their time to
their community. The ones who didn't respond to anger with a word of
anger in return, but prayed and forgave another for their actions.

List two is everyone who turned away from the cry of the hungry, the
lonely, the lost. The people who pushed and shoved their way through
life so that they could get ahead. The people who in an emergency
thought only of themselves and stood in line first, knowing they really
didn't need it but thought they deserved it. The people who curse the
homeless for the "good tax dollars we waste on them." The people who
won't forgive and carry grudges and hate in their hearts forever. The
people who perpetuate racism and prejudice by repeating those stupid
demeaning jokes, "all in fun". Those people who joined in with the rest
of the crowd and mocked, ridiculed and laughed at another.

The third list...is just as bad. They choose to do nothing. "I mind my
own business. I stay out of it. It's not my responsibility. The world
is going to hell and somebody should do something about it. But not
me."

Imagine for a moment that those lists were made public.

Imagine for a moment that everyday you were permitted to see the lists
of your friends and all whom you came in contact with that day.

What list would your name appear on?

Imagine again that beautiful 15 year child sitting with a piece of paper
in the last moments of her life. Tears and anguish, pain and sobbing
filled her final moments as one by one she wrote their names on the
list.

Did you make "The list today?"

Which one?