A young man. He's twelve.

While I was out of town a while ago I hired one of the neighborhood youngsters to feed and otherwise entertain the family cat. We agreed on a price and resposibilities. He'd come over, feed the little guy and spend about an hour a day with him giving him needed stimulation. Cats need daily stimulation or it effects their mental health.

After that he simply became a regular. I leave town,  he takes over if Mrs Pic has to leave the area.

Reports from another neighbor told me that in addition to this he had been changing lights around and leaving the TV on from time to time to give the house an occupied look. He started doing that pretty much on his own. He also (and this is a paid extra) keeps the driveway shoveled and digs a path to the front door. Actually the driveway is a pretty big so he clears a pretty good sized landing zone big enough for both cars.

I got him to start shoveling snow a couple of years ago to take a burden off of Mrs. Pic. 

Neighbors report that he has actually checked the weather the night before and gotten up before school to do some of the shoveling. That's pretty motivated if you ask me. Mrs Pic is pretty grateful for the shoveling as neither of us are kids anymore.

Anyway, something happened recently when I was out of town that let me know that I didn't hire a boy. I had simply hired a young man.

He noticed something just didn't seem right about the kitty and immediately called his father who authorized him to call a relative that is a semi-retired vet. Then he had his dad call me and see if it was OK to have his relative drop by and take a look at the little guy. Of course, I agreed and the vet came by and the verdict is that everything is going to be OK with Kitty.

This youngster really isn't a boy as far as I can see, he's a young man. He acted like one and therefore he is. He did what a man is supposed to do in discharging his manly (or womanly if she's a she) duties. He saw something wrong and stepped up to the plate and took direct action. He didn't stand there wondering what to do, he called for help. This is to be expected as he isn't a vetenarian.

He notified his dad and then called his relative and asked for help. He stood up to the plate and actually did something. He's to be complimented for this. Too many people three or four times his age would have either not have even noticed, shined it on or simply played another video game.

While there seems to be a shortage of men of any age these days it is really quite refreshing to see a person stepping to manhood at such an early age. He's, at twelve, a lot more of a man than a lot of people three or four times that age. I'm proud to have him as a neighbor.


To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY