Just a little thing.

I remember, as we all will, some of the exaggerations of youth.  There was in every group at least one person who always had to be the best at everything or have the biggest. 

You must remember the kind of thing? My dad is bigger and stronger than your dad., and so it went on.

There never was any real harm in it and it was never seen as telling lies, it was in fact just accepted. I remember asking my father one day why it was that this certain person in my school class always had better than all of the rest of us?

Now my dad was certainly not bigger than any of the the others he was like me very small in stature but big in wisdom .

We were in the back garden at the time he was busy collecting a cabbage. He told me this little tale that I remember to this day and the lesson I learned from hearing it.

Jim and Iain were the best of friends. They were in the same class at school, and went to the same cub pack of an evening. 

One day they were passing the greengrocer shop. In the window was a huge cabbage, it was the biggest in the shop, they had never seen such a large cabbage before. 

Without any real thought Jim boasted to Iain. "Jim I saw a cabbage much bigger than that last year when I went to my grandmothers place. It was in my grandmothers garden, it was huge."

Iain replied politely, "Oh wow! That cabbage must have been so big. You know what, my grandfather made a huge pot once bigger than my house."

Confused Jim turned and asked Iain, "Why did your grandfather make such a huge big pot?"

"I often wondered about that. But I suppose he made it to cook your grandmothers cabbage."

Immediately Jim realised his mistake and felt ashamed. From then on the friendship of those two boys are in strength because they both new that they could at all times be honest with each other.

Friendship cannot be built on weak foundations, or boastful words.

Have a wonderful day.