Sometimes kids do some pretty crazy things, stuff that is harmless, or even stuff that can get a giant, endangered gorilla killed and spark a national debate about the merits of parenting. There are times when a kid just gets so excited about something that they get caught up in it and do something wrong, completely without any intent to do so. I vividly remember being in the grocery store as a kid and asking my mom for a pack of gum. My mom usually wasn’t into indulging these flights of fancy that I’d go on, but this time she broke down; of course I could get a pack of gum. So overcome with excitement, I held it in my hand so tight that I simply forgot it was there.
I found myself standing out in front of the car when I looked down at my hand and there it was; that fluorescent pink pack of gum in my hand, unpaid for. I turned to my mom, both ashamed and scared, only for her to shrug it off, load me into the car while I stared down at my ill-gotten goods scared that someone would get arrested. Being a kid is weird. I’m not entirely sure what happened to that pack of gum, I’m sure I tossed it somewhere later and it was lost in a pile of Legos and G.I. Joes, but it was a moral, ethical dilemma that my young mind had to struggle with and clearly it sticks with me to this day.
This kid, on the other hand, returned his stolen stuff, according to BuzzFeed. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in Three Rivers, California, received this note from a child alongside a Giant Sequoia cone taped to the note, where the kid shows remorse for removing the fallen cone from the park. Technically, removing anything from the park is against the park’s rules, with the reasoning being that it’s a nature preserve and that every part helps the rest of the park flourish.
It’s safe to say that this kid (and let’s be real here, his parents) have it right when it comes to respecting nature and stuff that simply isn’t yours to keep. I can safely say, in this case, that this kid was absolutely better than I was as a kid (or at least his parents cared more).
(Via BuzzFeed)
