The Boy and Mr. Lizard

The Boy and Mr. Lizard - BY: Ron Brown

There once was a boy who while lying on the beach felt tiny footsteps upon his palm.  He opened his eyes expecting it to be a spider or some other creature that he would shake off and kill because of its creepiness.  But instead it was a lizard with such amazing colors.  The tiny lizard and boy connected eyes.  The boy closed his palm so as to capture his tiny treasure.  He rose and found a jar and he took a knife and poked holes in a metal lid so the tiny treasure would be able to breath.   He hid the jar in his back pack so his parents wouldn’t see it.  A few hours later they all packed up and loaded up in the car.  From the back seat the boy would unzip his backpack and look at his truly wonderful lizard in the jar.  Then when his Mom would turn around to ask him if he wanted a snack the boy would quickly zip his back pack closed.

Three hours later when the boy arrived home he ran up the staircase and unzipped the backpack and pulled out the jar.  The lizard was at the bottom and not moving. The boy opened the lid and reached in to pull out his treasure.  The tiny lizard barely breathing took his last breathes and closed his eyes.  The boy with tears flowing from his face at the loss of his most amazing treasure he had ever found.  His mother hearing the sounds of her son crying came up to his room.  She said “what’s wrong? Did you not have fun at the beach today?”  The boy turned around and looked with tears in his eyes at his Mom and said “Mommy, I found the most amazing lizard while we were at the beach. He crawled right into my hand.  I made a jar and poked holes in the top so he could breathe but Momma, he died.”

The mother pulling her closer to her kissed his head and rocked him.  She then said “So that lizard came back from the beach in the jar in your backpack all the way home?” The boy answered “Yes, Mommy. I had air holes in the top and everything, but he still died.”  The mother wanting to comfort her son said, “Why didn’t you let me know you had the lizard, we could have put grass in the jar and some bugs for him to eat.” The boy grabbing his head said “Oh Mommy, I only put the lizard in the jar, I didn’t think about the grass and the bugs for him to eat.  I didn’t even think about food for him, I only know I had to have him after all he walked right into my hand.”  The boy cried for some time.  Then when he dried his eyes, he said to his Mom, “Mommy, I want my lizard to be alive, isn’t there anyway to bring him back?”  The Mom calling him over to her patted the couch cushion as if to say come here and sit.  The boy sat down next to his Mom and put his head against her.  She lifted his chin so he was looking at her.  She said, “There is no way to bring life back to your lizard.  You see sometimes in life we have some amazing things and people come into our lives.  They give us joy, feel loved or in some cases feel connected like you did with the lizard.  But we need to always consider how they feel and what their needs are and not just our own.  You only could see the beauty and connection to the lizard.  And although you poked holes in the jar to allow him to breathe, you didn’t provide bugs and grass for him to eat.  We often in life try to hold on tightly to things or people but don’t take in consideration what they need.”  

The boy listening to his Mom said “But Mommy, I loved him. He was my treasure.”  The Mom said, “I know baby, but the one thing you forgot was what he really needed.  Perhaps when he crawled on to your hand and looked into your eyes, that maybe he was just saying hi in his own way.  What we will do is burry him in the back yard, but I want you to think what you want to say to him after we burry him in the ground.”  The boy with tears in his eyes said to his Mom, “I will Mommy.” 

The mother taking a shovel from the shed dug a hole in the backyard under the crab apple tree.  She made a stick cross out of wood and placed it just behind the hole.  Then she went inside and said “OK, go get the jar with the lizard and bring it out back.”  The boy went up to his room and took the jar and walked grudgingly outside.  His Mom placing her hand on the back of his head said “OK, go ahead and lay the jar in the ground in the hole.  The boy laid it in the hole and his Mom covered the jar with dirt. 

The Mom looked at her son in the eyes and said, “Did he have a name?”  The boy with a shocked look on his face said, “Mommy, I never named him.”  The Mom smiled and said, “It’s OK, we will call him Mr. Lizard.”  The Mom taking a marker wrote on the cross “Here is Mr. Lizard, Rest in Peace.”  The Mom then said, “OK, so did you think about what you want to say?”  The boy said “Yes Momma I did. Mr. Lizard, thank you for coming into my life. You were so beautiful that I wanted to have you. But you were not mine to have. I am sorry that I didn’t think about your needs. I should have just looked at you on the beach at let you go back to your friends. I’m sorry I tried to keep you. Maybe now you can roam on all the beaches you want.”

The Mom smiled and said, “Son, you have learned a really important lesson today.  We all have people who come into our lives, jobs we will work at and even people we will date. But if we try to control them or even hold on to them without considering their needs we only cause harm. Mr. Lizard, I want to thank you that you taught my son a great lesson so he will value and think about the other people in every situation. Even when it means that he needs to let it go. So thank you for that Mr. Lizard. Amen.” 

The boy went back to his room and thought about what his Mom had said.  Years later that boy grew up into a man who always remembered that lesson from that summer night. You see the lesson of Mr. Lizard applies to all of us. Live, love, let live and release freely and gain from the experience. You will have more than you could ever hoard in a life time by just enjoying the journey.  BE Truly Well.