For reasons unknown to me, my wife really likes McDonalds. It may go back to our very first time out which, as I recall, wasn’t actually a date. Marsha moved out to my little school her junior year and I think we were doing something for school. Being the extraordinary gentleman that I am, I decided to treat her to a fine meal. However, the only meal I could afford was McDonalds. That was back when McDonalds ran the commercial that said you could get a complete meal and still get change back from your dollar. Which was true. A hamburger, small fry and medium drink cost .98. So, our lovely meal cost $1.96. This was also back when a guy always took a car to pick up a date. Not me. That evening I took the old farm truck, and for a very good reason. It had gas in it. We were in a hurry and I didn’t want to waste time going in and eating, so I parked the truck and left her in that smelly old truck and went inside to get our food. This was also back in the day before drive-thrus. I was very romantic. Then again, it wasn’t really a date. If it had been a date I would have swept the truck out and maybe even would have taken the stringer of fish from behind the seat.

          Anyway, Marsha was out this week looking for something to photograph and decided she would run through McDonalds. She does this often if I am not with her. After scanning the Drive-thru menu for 10 minutes (I don’t know that she did that, but I do know Marsha) she then ordered what she has ordered for at least 44 years. Hamburger, small fries and a drink. Only the drink ever varies. Now, Marsha loves McDonalds but she dislikes the stuff they put on everything. She will not eat a dill pickle (even if you take it off it leaves the dill juice behind). She doesn’t like diced onions (sliced onions are fine, diced are gross). And there is something else she doesn’t like, but I can’t remember it now. She used to go through the list of things she didn’t want, but for the last 20 years or so she has just said “One hamburger, catsup only, small fries and drink.” When she made this order on this particular day, she watched it come up on the screen. Exactly what she ordered. She pulled up with great anticipation over her wonderful meal, got her bag and drink and hit the road.

          My wife eats her fries first. Always. When she is driving she will have her stereo cranked, her speed gradually increases and she is bopping to her music. By the time she has eaten all her fries she has annoyed a lot of other drivers and she is a long way from the McDonalds. On this particular day, she reached into the bag to get the hamburger after she had consumed the last fry. When she pulled it out she was concerned at its light weight. She opened the paper, took the sandwich and lifted the bun. (All this while driving at a high rate of speed and listening to her music at a volume that would make my ears bleed.) All that was on the bun was catsup. No meat. Whoever prepared her meal read the ‘one hamburger, catsup only, small fries and drink’ and took that to mean the customer wanted a bun with only catsup on it, even though it said hamburger. By this time, after eating her fries, she was probably five counties over, so she didn’t go back. Instead, when I got home that evening, I got to hear the whole story. Marsha was not a happy person. Her final words were, “And one day these kids will be running the country!”

          Which is true, but probably not that kid. That kid will be flipping burgers for a long time, somewhere. It does, however, illustrate a vital truth. If something doesn’t mean anything to someone, they will do a poor job. This is true in everything. In our lives it is immediately true in the work place, this is true in school, this is true in family and this is true in church. How do we fix it? We, the Moms and Dads and Grandparents and just concerned adults, need to show our kids just how important these things are to us. We don’t have to preach at them. We need to show it with our lives. If we take our jobs seriously, they will be more apt to do the same. If we gripe and complain, they will, too. If we show an interest in their school, they will show more of an interest. If we work at making family something special, they will work at it, too. If we take our faith and our church seriously, letting nothing come between us and our Lord and our service to Him, they will, also.

          Somebody let that McDonalds worker down. Somebody failed to impress upon that worker that they had to think and not always be told what to do. Don’t be letting the kids around you down.

          Blessings.