Bobby hosts monthly storytelling swaps at The River House in Capon Bridge, VA and a blues jam twice a month at The Barns in Berryville, VA. He also is certified to teach shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) in the monks’ Sui-Zen tradition. 

Raised within the Greenwich Village/Washington Square Park “Folk Revival” of the early ’60s, Bobby has his MA from Bank Street College of Education. In addition to 20 years teaching nursery and elementary school, he has 10 years working as a play therapist/music therapist with Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Despite a lifetime of NYC cultural expansiveness, his teenages dream was to become a U.S. Rural Postman delivering the mail and swapping songs and stories in the hills of West Virginia!

Act of Love

Once upon a time there were two people, and...
Did I say there were two people?
No, there weren't two people.
There were two gangs, and...
 
Did I say there were two gangs?
No, there weren't two gangs.
There were two armies! 
 
And those two armies were having an argument, and...
 
Did I say they were having an argument?
No, they weren't having an argument.
They were having a fight, and...
 
Did I say they were having a fight?
No, they weren't having a fight.
They were having a war!

Once upon this time there was a brave girl named Florence and a brave boy named Freddie. And they lived near a man named Francis, who was later called a saint.

And these two children, Florence and Freddie, helped Francis with his chores and in his garden, and Francis taught them songs and prayers and how to write their names.

Now, when the children heard the sounds of the battle, they were very scared and very curious, both at the same time, so they ran to tell Francis. But when they told him, he looked so sad, they felt like crying, too.

And so they all stayed quiet together, which was easy for Francis, but hard for the children, and they all prayed that people would learn how to stop hurting each other and stop threatening each other with death.

Francis told them he hoped they would never see the terrible things that happened in a battle, and then the children quietly walked home.

Now, as the children came to the bottom of a big hill, they heard the sounds of people shouting and cursing and crying in pain. And though they were very scared, they were also very curious.

So the girl named Florence, who was not feeling very brave, and the boy named Freddie, who wasn’t feeling brave at all, carefully walked up to the top of the hill and looked down the other side.

There they saw many people lying on the ground: and some of them could not walk, and some of them could not crawl, and some of them were bleeding, and all of them were hurt.

The children remembered how Francis would make a bandage with a piece of his own cloth and dip it in clean water when they skinned their elbows and knees, and how he brought them cool water to drink to help them stop crying.

So, Florence ran to the well to get a bucket of cool, clean water. And Freddie took off his shirt and tore it into strips to make bandages.

Then those two very brave, very frightened children went down to the hurt people, and washed their wounds and gave them cool water to drink.

Suddenly, many soldiers came around the hill. They grabbed the children and shouted at them:

“You are helping the enemy! We are going to put them in prison, and we are going to put you in there with them!”

But then, one of the soldiers recognized the children and shouted:

“Wait! These children help Francis of Assisi. Let us take them to him to see what punishment he will give them.”

So, some of the soldiers took the enemy to prison, and some of the soldiers took the children to Francis and told him what the children had done.

Francis smiled sadly at the children and in a kind voice he asked them:

“Is it true you gave water and bandages to the enemy?”

And Florence answered: “We did not see an enemy. We only saw people who were hurt and scared and crying in pain.”

“I am only a child”, said Freddie, “But when you look at my face you tell me you see the faces of my father and my mother. You see my father’s big ears and blue eyes, and my mother’s friendly smile.”

“And when you look at my face”, continued Florence, “you tell me you see my parents’ faces. You see my mother’s round cheeks and dark brown eyes, and my father’s curly hair.”

“You have taught us”, they said together, “That all people are God’s children, and that God is the Father of all people.

So, it is as you have taught us. Just as you see our parents’ faces when you look at us,  we see our Father’s face in the faces of His children. 

And when the face of our Father calls out to us for water, how can we refuse and turn away?”

Then Francis smiled so sweetly the tears in his eyes sparkled like crystals, and all the soldiers were very quiet, and they all prayed together with him that someday we would all learn how to stop hurting each other, and to stop threatening ourselves with death.

And this is a good place to end this story, but true stories are even more wonderful than make-believe, so let me add something true to this wish of a story.

I wrote this story while camped in the parking lot of the Immaculate Heart Middle School outside of Tucson, Arizona. When I had finished, I noticed a piece of paper lying on the ground. It had been folded over many times, so it was too heavy even for the spring winds to blow away. I opened it and saw that it was a school assignment, for a test on March 4, and this is not such a strange thing to find in a school parking lot, except that the day I found it was a Sunday, and the date I found it was March 23.

It “should” have been long gone by then, but there it was, as if waiting for the end of “my” story. And this is what was written:

"Act of Love
I love Thee above all things,
With my whole heart and soul
And with all my strength,
Because Thou art all good
And worthy of all my love.
I love my neighbor as myself.
For the love of Thee
I forgive
All who have injured me,
And ask pardon
Of all whom I have injured.
Amen "