Third Wednesday of Advent

Read Psalm 53

        lamed vavniks*

the 98-pound weakling
        who gets in the face
            of the mammoth
                linebacker who keeps
    bullying the 9th
            graders;

the trash collector
    who takes an extra few
                    minutes
        (which he can't really
             spare this morning)
                    to salt the icy
                    driveway of his
        elderly customers;

the little girl who,
            while waiting for her bus,
    tries to collect the
        diamonds on top
                of the snow drifts
            for her teacher;

the mentor
    who shows up at every
                event his student
        takes part in (even
    though he cannot stand
                    to sit for very
            long);

fools?
    all of them?

© 2010  Thom M. Shuman

*according to rabbinic tradition, the
lamed vav(niks) are the 36 'hidden righteous'
in the world.  Even if the rest of the world
became completely barbarous, the presence
of these 36 would keep God from destroying
the world.