of this achievement, we, The Yugo Dealers World Association, are pleased
to award you this fine porcelain bust of General Tito, former ruler of
Yugoslavia.” As the audience applauded Mr. Slobovich presented the
bust to Jack Sharp.
“Wow,” said Jack to Rodney, “You should have seen the crowd. All the Yugo dealers from all over the world, all nine of them were there!”
Jack proudly set the bust on his bookshelf. Then he left to go to work
at his auto dealership.
“Well whoopee do!” exclaimed Rodney sarcastically after Jack had left, “General whoopee do Tito!” Rodney was being his usual selfish self and refused to share Jack’s
happiness over his award.
While Jack was gone Rodney decided he would amuse himself by batting a tennis ball around the house. As usual, he became a bit over exuberant and was really going wild. Suddenly the ball hit General Tito squarely in the nose. Rodney helplessly watched as
General Tito came crashing to the floor.
“Oh no! What will I tell Mr. Sharp?” thought Rodney. Then Rodney
had an idea. He pulled the entire bookshelf over, threw the lamp
crashing to the floor and tipped over Jack’s Lazy Boy. Just when
he finished turning the room upside-down he heard Jack’s Yugo sputtering
into the drive.
Jack was flabbergasted when he walked through the door and saw the mess. “Rodney! What have you done?” exclaimed Jack as he surveyed the room.
“Done?” asked Rodney innocently, “I’ve been in my room reading,” he lied. Then Rodney looked about the room and, pretending to be innocent exclaimed, “Oh my, that shaking I felt. There must have been an earthquake!”
Jack knew something was amiss. He took Rodney by the ear and went from room to room in the house. “Please explain, Rodney, why the earthquake only affected the living room, and none of the other rooms in the house, except of course your bedroom, which always looks that way?”
Rodney was caught! “Well,’ he stammered, “Probably it was just a localized earthquake.”
“You are lying to me, Rodney, aren’t you?” asked Jack.
“Whatever makes you think that?” asked Rodney.
Jack was about at his wits end. “This is your last chance, Rodney. Now come clean, fess up, and tell the truth.”
“Well, actually it was not an earthquake. I left the door open and some vandals must have come in.”
“You are lying Rodney, and I am going to give you what boys who lie get,” said Jack.
“Candy?” asked Rodney.
“No, a spanking,” said Jack and with that he swiftly laid Rodney over his lap and applied the rod of correction to his tail end.
After only one swat Rodney was ready to tell the truth. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t mean to break General Tito, but my tennis ball hit him.” With tear filled eyes, Rodney told Jack the whole truth of how his careless action caused General Tito to be broken and how he had then tried to cover up his irresponsibility with lies and deceit.
Jack gave Rodney a big hug and told him, “Rodney, you are more important that any bust of General Tito. You are my son and I love you even more than my Yugo.”
Rodney learned that day that the best route to take in any situation is to tell the truth and accept responsibility for your actions. He turned on the TV and there was his dad selling Yugo cars and Chinese mopeds and exclaiming, “Whoa, don’t get too close, you
might get cut!”
“That is the truth,” said Rodney to himself, “Get close to sin and you will get cut!”
