SPEAKING OF VALUES By Joseph Walker

Rustling raspberries Stealing? Well, yes - I guess we were stealing, if you want to get all technical about it. But in our 13-year-old brains we were just using the raspberries as God intended them to be used. The matter of ownership never occurred to us. We just knew that the Jordans had the best raspberries in the neighborhood, and that their bushes were always heavy with fruit. So we snuck into the Jordans’ backyard - which, come to think of it, should have been our first clue that we were doing something wrong: we “snuck.” Anytime sneaking is involved, it means you don’t want to get caught, which usually means you shouldn’t be doing it. Now, I’ve got to tell you, there isn’t anything that tastes better than vine-ripened raspberries, fresh off the bush. We were savoring every bite of ill-gotten berry when all of a sudden the Jordans’ backyard lights flicked on, and Mr. Jordan came charging outside. “What you boys doing out here?” he shouted as my friends scrambled off in all directions. Within seconds the boys disappeared into the dark of the summer evening. All except one. Uh, that would be me. Speed was never my strength. I was tall. I was strong. But I wasn’t very fast. So I stood there, deer-in-the-headlights style, and quickly considered my options. I could run, but I knew perfectly well that even as old as Mr. Jordan was, he could probably out-run me. I could lie, but I couldn’t come up with a believable story. Or I could just stand there and accept whatever punishment would surely come my way from the Jordans and my parents. I took the tongue-lashing that Mr. Jordan gave me as he marched me down the block to my house, where my mother took over and escalated the harangue to new levels of righteous scolding. My friends said they could hear every colorful word. They teased me about it for days afterwards. After about a week of this I complained to my father about the inequity of the situation. “I don’t think it’s unfair at all,” Dad said. “You took raspberries without asking, and you got exactly the punishment you deserved.” “But what about the other guys?” I asked. “They didn’t get punished at all!” “That’s not my concern, nor should it be yours,” Dad said. “You can’t control what happens to other people. You can only deal with what happens to you. You made a bad choice that night, and you were punished for it. To me, that is completely fair.” Back then I thought Dad just didn’t get it. But through the years I come to realize that, as usual, he knew what he was talking about. We didn’t come to earth with a guarantee that life would treat us fairly. And it doesn’t.