TheLittle Red Hen

The Sky is Falling, the misadventures of Chicken Little and Henny Penny is the more well-known story, but my favorite is the story of Who Will Help?

The story begins as the Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat and asks which of the other animals in the barnyard will help her plant it. Nobody will help. "Very well, then," she replies, "I will do it myself." No one helps her with harvesting, threshing, taking the wheat to the mill or baking bread. But she has her revenge: The fruit of her labors, fresh homemade bread, is shared with her chicks while the hungry animals look on in shame.

It is not right, as every child knows, but still, it is the way it is - one does the work and everyone else enjoys the fruits of the labor. Growing up as a child, I always had a sense that my mother worked much too hard; a little help now and then from me or the other five children would have gone a long way towards easing her burden. I can now admit that I did not help enough. And, "God bless her," I only remember once my mother getting upset at my brother and I for not pitching in and helping out. Today, I still harbor the guilt of not helping my mother more. All I can do is watch my own two children and wonder why they too don't help out a little more at home.

Thank goodness for George. He found the kernel of wheat and planted it and how it has sprouted. Now like the Little Red Hen, George and I wonder who will help.