In our world of ever-present debates, “blame games” and 24/7 “Pete & Repeat” talk shows, the following poem, which was given to me a few weeks ago by a parishioner, is a good read and reminder for all. The poem is entitled, The Cookie Thief, by Valerie Cox.

“A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
with several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in theairport shops.
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that
the man beside her, as bold as could be. Grabbed a cookie or two
from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as
the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more
irritated as the minutes ticked by, Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I
would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only
one was left she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his
face, and a nervous laugh, He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, She snatched it
from him and thought….oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve
and he’s also rude, Why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled, And
sighed with relief when her flight had been called. She gathered
her belongings and headed to the gate, Refusing to look back at
the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, Then she
sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in
her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies,
in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were
his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with
grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.
How many times in our lives, have we absolutely known
that something was a certain way, only to discover later that
what we believed to be true…was not?”

American Cardinal Burke recently said in an interview, and I paraphrase, that conversations or discussions about any topic demand us to at least begin with the truth. Point well taken.