for 4 AUG 07: FEATS OF STRENGTH

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this item humorous, serious, or a little of both - but we offer these thoughts from time to time, as we keep a seventh-day Sabbath.)

If you spend an extra dollar to renew your car license plate by mail, you don't know what you're missing. All sorts of amazing things can happen at the east side of the Government Center. You might see old friends, spot familiar TV faces - and even children playing ball games in a corner. Columbus Lions managers may be sad to learn they did NOT play indoor football.

When I renewed my car tag this past week, I waited in line behind a mother of two toddler boys. They wore matching green striped shirts, and they seemed to have matching goals - to dismantle and tear down the padded barriers used to keep people in a line. These children have a great future with S.O.A. Watch.

The toddlers worked like tag-team villains, pulling the padded barriers forward like they doing weight work in a gym. When that didn't work, they unhooked the pads from the metal stands to which they're attached. These children were doing to Columbus city government on a small scale what Paul Olson has dreamed of doing at Council meetings.

(At one point, children farther behind the boys succeeded in knocking down half-a-lane of the padded barriers, including a couple of metal columns. Now you know why restaurants such as Arby's make those things of solid steel.)

I couldn't help watching all of this childish destruction - but I tried as best I could NOT to make eye contact with the toddlers. If their goal was simply to get attention, I didn't want to give them any. They can wait ten years for that - assuming YouTube is still around then.

The mother of the toddlers took a low-key approach to all this. She never raised her voice toward her boys, asking them "please" to calm down -- and actually called one of the boys "sir." If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was standing behind the U.S. Secretary of State.

Some of you may be wondering why this mother didn't punish her children on the spot. She seemed to limit that to gripping one hand of her boys very hard - tight enough that the boys complained about it. Painful lessons can be learned in spots other than the (ahem) derriere.

If the mother had slapped her sons' hands in the line or even spanked them, I would have understood and not objected. And for all I know, she may have done that after the family returned home. The toddlers were making enough of a scene, without their mom multiplying it times two.

The family in front of me finally went to a window to obtain a license tag. Then so did I - and I told the woman behind the glass that I'd received something else with my new silver sticker. "I watched a wrestling match at no extra charge."

As I walked back to my car with my new license sticker, I pondered the family in front of me. The toddlers seemed ready to show how physically strong they were -- yet didn't the mother really exercise more strength? She showed strength in her patience and self-control. And she may have realized she had the last word with her children - for instance, by serving bland lima beans for dinner.

The control shown by this mother is the sort of strength we all really need. The Bible puts it this way in Colossians 3: "Be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility, gentleness and good temper...." If correction or punishment of children is needed, it can wait until you're away from public display. But then again, Kim Basinger may leak your answering machine message to the media....

While the toddlers didn't want to calm down, their mother (at least outwardly) kept her cool. If only all of us did this in tense situations. That might go a long way to reduce the recent crime surge in Columbus - and I think "Project Safe Thinking" is a far better answer than "Project Safe Streets."

BLOG CORRECTION: I didn't realize until the Friday evening news that this weekend is the "World's Longest Yard Sale" - so as it turns out, it DOES coincide with the Georgia and Alabama sales tax holidays. If you want to drive all the way to Fort Payne to save five dollars on a lamp, it's up to you.

COMING SUNDAY: Is a mayor in our area about to get a 100-percent raise?....

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