Does anyone have a Pencil?

You remember those antidotes from grandma or grandpa about how poor they were growing up? They used to say, “we were so poor, we couldn’t afford a TV, so we had to watch the neighbors’ TV through the window,” or “We were so poor, when someone rang the doorbell, we had to yell, “Ding-dong ourselves,” or how about this one,  “We were so poor, we had to eat cereal with a fork to save milk.”  Now I know some of those were exaggerations, but I am not exaggerating when I tell you that we were so poor I could not find a pencil to do my homework and if I was lucky enough to find one, it always had the eraser rubbed down to the metal barrel.  Not to worry, when you are poor, you become resourceful. Something modern kids don’t know much about.  All I required were some tools, a hammer and a knife. The hammer smash the metal barrel down so the eraser would squish up.  A knife, sharp enough to whittle down the edges to expose the lead.   Mind you, this is all only if I actually found a pencil.  On desperate days when none could be found, I tried lipstick, eyebrow pencil, crayon and even a sharpened carrot.  But alas, there is nothing like a good ‘ol pencil. But often, I would go to school with incomplete homework. My teacher would ask why, and I would tell her we were Pencil impoverished! She didn’t believe me.

It was about the time I grew up and left the house that I realized that it was laziness on the part of my parents that we went without pencils, I mean honestly how much did a pencil cost back then, five cents!   So, when it was my turn to be a parent, I swore I would never do that to my kids.   It was about the time they entered school, and I gave them each their very own twenty-pound backpack filled with pencils and paper that my oldest looked at me and said, “mom, you have an addiction problem!”   He was right, I guess I did. Not wanting them to experience the sheer frustration of want, I was giving them the sheer frustration of too much!  Yes, pencils have taught me a lot about two of the seven deadly sins, Sloth and Gluttony.

But more than that, although pencils might be humble writing tools, when used, they do keep our minds sharp and not dull.  The simple pencil always draws a smile of gratitude when you can’t find one,and then suddenly do. 

And of course, there is the wisdom of those who have gone before, like Grandmother- who would say, a pencil that is not sharp is pointless.