< RM > story - Cookies

Cookies

A small boy at summer camp received a large package
of cookies in the mail from his mother. He ate a few, then
placed the remainder under his bed. The next day, after
lunch, he went to his tent to get a cookie. The box was
gone.

That afternoon a camp counselor, who had been told of
the theft, saw another boy sitting behind a tree eating the
stolen cookies. "That young man," he said to himself,
"must be taught not to steal."

He returned to the group and sought out the boy whose
cookies had been stolen. "Billy," he said, "I know who
stole your cookies. Will you help me teach him a lesson?"

"Well, yes-but aren't you going to punish him?" asked
the puzzled boy.

"No, that would only make him resent and hate you,"
the counselor explained. "I want you to call your mother
and ask her to send you another box of cookies."

The boy did as the counselor asked and a few days later
received another box of cookies in the mail.

"Now," said the counselor, "the boy who stole your
cookies is down by the lake. Go down there and share
your cookies with him."

"But," protested the boy, "he's the thief."

"I know. But try it--see what happens."

Half an hour later the camp counselor saw the two
come up the hill, arm in arm. The boy who had stolen the
cookies was earnestly trying to get the other to accept his
jackknife in payment for the stolen cookies, and the vic-
tim was just as earnestly refusing the gift from his new
friend, saying that a few old cookies weren't that impor-
tant anyway.