I, Myself and Me

I had a wonderful friend in Canada who has since died. She had lived through tough pioneering days in my village, and was a fine, generous Christian. One day she quoted this poem about selfishness:

I, Myself and Me

I, myself and me
Had a little tea party
In the afternoon at three.
T'was very small
Three friends in all,
I, myself and me.

Myself ate all the sandwiches
And I drank all the tea.
T'was also I
That ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.

Isn't that a wonderful little poem to use to teach our children about selfishness?

My friend also told me that when she was younger, her sister and her had gotten the rare treat of an apple to share. When they each got their half they began to quarrel about whether the halves were cut fairly. Their wise father looked at the apple halves.
"Yes," he said "this one looks bigger," and proceeded to take a large bite. He then looked at the second half and said "Now this one is bigger," and took a large bite from that one. In a professed attempt to even out the size of the halves, their father took another bite from the first and then the second, and third and fourth bites from each until the apple was gone. After that, do you think Reika and Minnie ever complained about their half of the apple being smaller?