The boy who hung the curtain rod

I went downstairs to bring the workers coffee. When I returned, the boy, age 16 or 17, was standing on a table hammering enthusiastically. He had set three fixtures in place, and the curtain rod rested squarely upon them. Great work — except he was standing outside.

“What are you doing?” I asked, somewhat perplexed to see adornment of this kind hanging on a building’s exterior. “Have you ever seen curtains on the outside of a house?”

“Brother says me to,” was his reply. It was an order, the task assigned to him.

We need to teach our young people to think, not to follow.