Two Mothers, two daughters and a bucket

This morning the doorbell rang and two women who live somewhere in the neighborhood introduced themselves. They then explained that their children had played a practical joke and they wanted me to come and see. There stood two little girls – first or second grade- with a bucket between them. On our concrete block wall was a small arrow written in chalk. The mothers apologized for their daughters and then the daughters apologized. I was given a small gift and the daughters scrubbed the wall. The scrubbing wouldn’t have taken very long but having to stand in the street and apologize was the big lesson – learning to take responsibility for you actions and then apologizing.
The arrow was so small and not an issue but I respected the mothers who wanted their daughters to learn that mistreating others property was not acceptable behavior. Oh that we would all learn lessons when we are young and the lessons are over small things. In later years we might not have to learn big lessons the hard way.