Fractions

A schoolteacher was trying to teach her class about fractions. She used the example of a chocolate bar. One (1) whole chocolate bar. She explained that, with fractions, the bigger the number on the bottom, the smaller the fraction. The smaller the piece. Holding up the candy bar, she showed-one third of the candy bar (1/3) would be a larger piece, a larger fraction, than one-eighth (1/8) of the candy bar. See? The larger the number on the bottom of the fraction, the smaller the fraction. One-third (1/3) is bigger than one-eighth (1/8.) See? Later, she gave a quiz to see if the children understood fractions. In her class was a group of refugee children. Their families had come, to get away from war. On the quiz the teacher gave about fractions, she asked: Would you rather have 1/2 (half) of a chocolate bar, or would you rather have 1/4 (a quarter) of a chocolate bar? Almost all the refugee children said they would rather have one quarter of a chocolate bar. Rather than half. This was incorrect. They didn't understand fractions. Fortunately, rather than just marking them all wrong, she asked them about their answer. (May her number increase!) They said they had chosen one quarter of the chocolate bar, so somebody else could have some chocolate too! They understood fractions better than many of us do. For them, it was not about getting the biggest piece. It was about being able to share. In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, our Impossible Lord gives His followers an Impossible challenge. Looking out at a huge crowd, our Impossible Lord says, "You give them something to eat." They are sure they don't have enough. 5 loaves of bread, and two fish. But when they share what they have, our Impossible Lord makes it more than enough. Me and most everybody else with a belly button, we hold back. We hold back, afraid we won't have enough. For today, I'm gonna try to be like those refugee children. Maybe the point isn't to get the bigger piece. But to share the good I got.