Chaplain Jerry L. Carter on the wisdom of children

Big David and Little David

On our street lived two boys named David. David Ables was six years older than me. He was a kind, quiet, acne-faced kid who didn’t seem to have a lot of friends. His dad was a railroad engineer and his mother owned a beauty salon. Big David, as he was called, would play football in the street with us. His special friend was Little David Polkluda, a boy about three years younger than me. Everyone talked about how Big David took care of Little David. Little David tried to walk, talk, and move like Big David.

Upon graduating from high school Big David was drafted into the army and was soon digging fox holes in Vietnam, while Little David was experiencing his own dangers. One enduring image is when the neighbors’ German shepherd (a big rather cantankerous dog) chased a ball-hunting Little David into the doghouse and would not let him out. No amount of our efforts could distract the dog. Little David did not cry, but we could hear him yell, “If Big David was here you wouldn’t get away with this!” Little David did not get out of the doghouse until the owners came home. As the story was told to Mr. Ables, Little David said, “I think I know what Big David thinks about when he digs a fox hole.”

A few weeks later an army staff car with an officer and a chaplain appeared at the Ables’ home with the worst news. As time went on Mr. Ables became gruff, angry, bitter. Even the sounds of our playing in the Polkluda’s yard would irritate him and result in angry outbursts. Soon we were banished from the Polkluda’s yard and all play moved to our house and elsewhere. Only Little David seemed able to penetrate the fence Mr. Ables had built around himself. He would see Little David in the yard and invite him to sit on the porch with him. Little David would come home with gifts. A whistle, a knife, and trinkets that were either made by Mr. Ables or that were from Big David’s room. All these things came to reside in Little David’s room.

On the first anniversary of Big David’s death, we learned that Mr. Ables had taken his own life. Little David and Mr. Ables must have talked a lot about Big David. When Mr. Ables died, Little David started returning Big David’s things to his mother. They would sit on that same porch and talk about Mr. Ables and Big David. Lottie told Little David’s mother, “You will never know how much it means for me for Little David to return some of the things and tell me the big stories that my husband told him.”

Sometimes kids are wiser than we know. They have courage, simple faith, and a peace that only God can provide.

Maybe little trinkets and big stories shared from honest hearts are a good way to get through life’s toughest times.

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