Consistent Deceit

    

            Agatha stood at her kitchen window watching her fourteen-year-old son walking down the driveway to catch the bus for a ride on his first day of high school. She carried a great deal of concern for his well-being, as he had been homeschooled up to this time. She and her husband Alexander both knew that Jonathan was well educated, thoughtful, and sensitive, probably one who could easily be taken advantage of, as he was willing to sacrifice anything for anyone who was in need.

              Three weeks after the start of the school year, Jonathan began talking about another student with whom he had become friends, a young man named Simon, who also had been homeschooled and seemed to be a mirror image of Jonathan. Simon began to visit them on a weekly basis and Agatha asked for his phone number in order to meet his parents and hopefully develop a relationship with them, as they sounded like kindred spirits.

              As springtime approached, both Jonathan and Simon decided to join the cross-country team, neither one of them being particularly athletic but wanting to make more connections with fellow students. The longer the season continued, the more disappointed and surlier Jonthan seemed to become, which prompted his parents to urge him to tell them what was happening at school and if there was anything they could do to help.

              After a few days of prodding and encouraging him to talk, he eventually cracked and began to complain about how so many people pretended to be nice, but he would often hear them talking to other students about how weird and abnormal both he and Simon were. “It seems to me that people like to pretend to be nice, so they make themselves look good and feel like they are doing the right thing,” he said. “It really bothers me that people are fake and only act friendly when I am around. I just don’t understand it.”

              “Jonathan, you need to understand that people will wear masks and act differently around different people,” his father said. “There is nothing we can do about it. If someone acts like this, all we can do is make the best of the situation and not return unkindness for their ingenuine behavior.”

              “Your father and I have been talking about having Simon and his family over for dinner one evening,” his mother said. “If Simon is experiencing the same thing as you, it would be good for all of us to talk about it and see if we can come up with a solution for you both to practice. There is always a right answer and most of the time is it easy to do the wrong thing simply because it feeds our desire for revenge.”

              Jonthan grumbled around the house on that weekend, looking forward to having Simon and his family over for some genuine, friendly interaction. Still feeling grumpy and sad, he left the house and lay in the silence of their backyard, staring into the empty blue sky far overhead. The soft sound of padding feet approached him, prompting him to sit up and greet his mother who had brought him freshly squeezed lemonade, to sit on the grass with him.

              “I just spoke to Simon’s mother,” she said. “We invited them to come over for dinner on Tuesday night, so hopefully we can make some new friends and find a resolution for you boys at school.” Jonathan finished his lemonade and lay back down in the grass.

              “That sounds great, Mom,” he said, “Honestly, I really don’t know what kind of solution we can come up with. Simon and I pretty much keep to ourselves and avoid the empty, selfish popular cliques that are so common at school. Both of us feel really out of place there and do our best to avoid becoming the ones picked on by the popular kids.”

              Jonathan returned home from school on Tuesday afternoon, wandered around the house, and waited for their company to arrive. Thirty minutes into dinner, the six of them sat around the table, talking about the value of homeschooling, the tragic lack of quality education found in the public school system, and the vanity and foolishness of most of society. Simon’s father spoke up with a specific idea.

              “You boys should try to find if there are any other students similar to yourselves,” he said. “Think how much better each day of school would be if you had others to interact with, to encourage, and to hopefully impact others in a positive way.”

              “You are right, sir,” Jonathan said. “Simon and I have spent a great deal of time interacting with many different students, both younger and older, but we have failed to find anyone who is remotely like us. I believe we are the only two students in our grade that were homeschooled, including the grade above us and the grade below us.”

              “Jonathan is right, Dad,” Simon said. “We always sit alone in the far corner of the cafeteria and lament how empty and ignorant all of the other students are. No one seems to have any common sense, original ideas, or thoughts about how to make their own life better, or to help others. It really is sad. We have put in a great deal of effort to find anyone who would be valuable to interact with.”

              They finished their meal and Agatha and Simon’s mother cleaned the kitchen and dining room, while the two men and the two boys sat together in the living room, continuing their talk and disappointment with their fellow students. The clock reached nine and Jonathan watched his friend, and parents leave for the evening.

              “Simon’s father is right,” Alexander said. “You’ll probably need to lower your expectations quite a bit if you hope to find someone with whom to interact. I know you would be shocked if you could see what kind of homes most of these kids come from. Most people spend their time being distracted by social media and television. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that no one has any deep thoughts or concerns for others.”

              “Okay, Dad,” he said. “Simon and I will talk about it tomorrow morning and see if we can find someone to connect with, to stir up thoughts or ideas, and hopefully help move them in a good direction. This is going to be difficult, because most people only pretend to like us but then go about their business with no concern or thoughts about anything valuable."

              "Okay, put in extra effort tomorrow,” he said. “I look forward to hearing about your day tomorrow night during dinner. I think you’ll be surprised at the positive impact you can make on others if you present them with something of value and depth.”

              Jonathan shuffled down his driveway the next morning to join Simon on the bus ride to school. The first three periods passed, and they entered the cafeteria last, scanning over the mass of students who seemed to have no concerns at all about anything of value. Jonathan made eye contact with a rather grumpy looking young man in a leather jacket and a Slayer t-shirt. He used his minimal knowledge of metal music to start a conversation with him. As the three of them sat down at their usual corner table, three other young men in leather jackets joined them.

              Simon and Jonathan were thrilled with this new connection and were surprised to find how articulate and thoughtful these young men were. They learned that the four of them were in a band and invited them to come over that evening after dinner to listen to them rehearse. The boys agreed, wrote down the address and time, finished their lunches and returned to their next class.

              “This is going to be really interesting,” Jonathan said. “Call me tonight after dinner after you talk to your parents. Of course, we’ll need to get a ride to this address, because it is a long way away from both of our homes.”

              Jonathan joined his parents for dinner that evening and shared the unusual experience he and Simon had with the four leather clad young men and their plans for the evening. Jonathan’s father offered to drive them to the address and would return in two hours to bring them home. Both boys were widely smiling when Alexander arrived and drove them home.

              Each night during dinner, Jonathan shared the conversations he and Simon had with their four new friends. Agatha could see her son’s eyes gleaming with joy and excitement as he spoke of their conversations and the direction the boys were leading their new friends. The next day at school Jonathan and Simon entered the lunchroom and were immediately joined by their four new friends at their corner table.

              “Hey,” Jonathan said, “Simon and I were talking, and we came up with an idea that I think you’ll really like. Your band is really good, and we were thinking that we could schedule a concert for you and promote it. We’ll divide the profits evenly between the six of us and we were thinking that we would donate our portion of the proceeds to a small organization in town that buys food for families in need. We’ll do all the promotion work and I am certain that your music will draw in a lot of people. What do you think?”

              James, the vocalist spoke up first, and said he was thrilled at the idea, and they could easily perform for at least an hour or an hour and a half. “Let us know the details about when and where, so yes, we would love to do a concert. We’re getting close to the end of the school year so it will need to be soon.”

              “That’s awesome,” Simon said. “We already found a small venue that we can afford, and we were thinking that Friday night on this coming weekend would be good. If you’re okay with that, we’ll start posting around the school and around town.”

              “Yeah, we can do that, “he said. “That gives us five days to create a set list. We’ve been practicing for a long time, and we all think we’re ready to dive in. Let’s schedule it for eight o’clock. Send me the address and we’ll be ready.”

              Friday night arrived quickly, and the six boys watched the small venue fill to capacity with about three hundred people. Jonathan and Simon stood at the back and watched the packed venue throb as a single entity with happy and excited fans. Nine thirty rolled up and the venue emptied out. Simon started dividing up the money into six parts and was surprised to learn from the band that he and Jonathan should donate all of the money to the business that helped people.

              “Wow, thank you, guys,” Jonathan said. “This is exactly the kind of thing that makes us different than everyone else. I would bet that we could do a concert like this once a month and begin generating a regular income for you.”

“That would be awesome,” the drummer said. “We’ll leave that up to you to plan but keep us in the loop so we can always be ready. It’s weird to think that the two new guys who just happened to connect with us have brought about a great new path forward for the band. I certainly didn’t see that coming.  Thanks a lot, Jonathan and Simon. You have our numbers so stay in touch.”