Thursday, May 24, 2007

KID DESTROYS SAND PAINTING

Ah, those goofy kids, always up to mischief, this time in Kansas City. The Associated Press reports:
The little boy spotted the pretty pile of colored sand on the floor of the vast hall and couldn't resist. Slipping under a protective rope, he danced all over the sand, ruining the carefully crafted picture.

Never mind that it was the creation of eight Tibetan monks who had spent two days cross-legged on the floor of Union Station, meticulously pouring the sand into an intricate design as an expression of their Buddhist faith.

They were more than halfway done with the design -- called a mandala -- on Tuesday when they ended their work for the day and left. The little boy showed up sometime later with his mother, who was taking a package to a post office in the hall.

"He did a little tap dance on it, completely destroying it," said Lama Chuck Stanford, of the Rime Buddhist Center in Kansas City.
The monks' reaction? No big: "We didn't get despondent," said Geshe Lobsang Sumdup, leader of the group from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in southern India. "We have three days more. So we will have to work harder." Just keep those meddling kids behind the ropes.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why keep the kids behind the ropes? Why can't they have fun?

The monks weren't mad. They're Buddhists. They understand.

The kid was just doing what kids do. Give him a break.

Anonymous said...

Is it just me, or is refreshing to hear a story where a religion doesn't react to perceived slights with suicide bombings and beheadings?

Anonymous said...

That's the beauty of Buddhism for you, grasshopper.

Anonymous said...

Buddhists were turning the other cheek long before Christ was a, um, corporal.

Anonymous said...

That would be the sand paintings fate anyways....when the monks complete it, they take brooms and sweep it away...its a meditation on impermemance.

shak El

thinkingthings said...

It is okay to ask kids to stay behind the ropes. Kids really, truly need limits and discipline. If they were destroying a Christian icon in a church somewhere would anon 2:08 be so nonchalant? If parents taught their kids to behave appropriate at home and in public, maybe we wouldn't have kindergarteners breaking the prinicipal's nose. Yes, that happened in Springfield.

thinkingthings said...

make that "appropriately." Not enough coffee for grammar apparently...

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Thinkingthings! As a young parent, I'm often disappointed by the lack of leadership I see other young parents take and the bad name they give us as a group.

Anonymous said...

Pesky kids messing up sandcastles. Hmmpphh! I think they need a good spanking!

Anonymous said...

Children will be children, and the monks were very gracious and understanding. I applaud their response.

Sand blows away ... this little boy is alive and well, and we should not over react to a child's natural curiousity.

Yes, the mother might have prevented this, but all parents make mistakes.

We should be more worried that he could have walked out the door and into the world unattended ....

Spankings are not necessary if you give a child appropriate structure, routine and correction.

Anonymous said...

beware can`t you people see what is happening to our young people with out structure?? gangs, no regards for other people`s property Rmember the young man in China and the cars and the spray paint?? he got flogged bad ,yes but give him a paint can and I`ll bet he wouldn`t go any where near a car lesson learned???

Anonymous said...

anon 8:41:

punctuation much? Coherent sentence can you write?

Anonymous said...

WOW, YOU JUST DON'T GET IT! THAT KID WAS TOLD, BY HIS MOM, BE CAREFUL NOT TO STEP IN THE SAND! BUT, THEN, AS SOON AS HER HACK WAS TURNED, HE DESTROYED IT. DELIBERATELLY. WHAT A BRAT! THEN SHE LEFT, WITHOUT AN APOLOGY OR ANOTHER WORD. QUITE TYPICAL! anonymous.

Anonymous said...

That's the beauty of Buddhism...the monks know that all things change...sometimes when you don't want them to. Just accept it and move on.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't this kid two years old? What competent mother lets go of the hand of a two-year old (or even 3 or 4, for that matter)in a busy public place??? Children that young do not have the self-control to stay behind the rope. Sand is OK to play in at the park....must be the same here. Shame on that mom. Had someone snatched her darling youngster, instead of him simply mussing a sand design, that package would seem pretty insignificant now.