Beaver Fibs

                                                   

"Beaver Fibs''

What is it that made Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver unique ?

It was his uncanny ability to tell a fib.

If there was a way to get out of any trouble he was in, or punishment was imminent he'd find a way with a neat little well timed lie that we'll refer to as a "Beaver Fib". 

One of my favorite Beaver Fibs is when Beaver's teacher, Ms. Canfield, gave him a note to take home to his parents.

Ms.Canfield never revealed what was in the note, and the other kids in the class saw her give the note to Beaver.

When the recess bell rang, everyone scurried out to the hallway to ambush Beaver with their thoughts about the note as he was entering the hallway from the classroom.

The kids suggested to poor little Beav that the note spelled certain disaster, shame,expulsion and derision, and oh Lord, a whipping.

The paranoia the Beaver had to endure on that long walk home was terrifying.

Beaver finally made up his mind that he wasn't going to share the note, sealed in an envelope, with Ward and June, his mom and dad.

He never even bothered to open the note to examine the contents. Poor Beav.

Finally, after Beaver discussed the note with his big brother, Wally, his brother penned a bogus note from the Beav's parents for Ms. Canfield.

The note said that Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver were ashamed of the Beav's behavior and that they had "whipped him".

Wally even forged a signature from his parents to the note.

Well, when the school principal, Ms. Rayburn, called the Cleaver home to find out what was going on and to inquire why the Beav had been whipped, after Ms. Canfield had shared the contents of the forged note with the principal, believing that it was actually from Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver, the plot to cover up Beaver's plan to hide the note began to manifest itself. 

Finally, after Beaver's dad was finally able to coax Beaver out of tree that he had been hiding in all afternoon after running away from home, in an attempt to avoid the "whipping", we begin to see the moral of the story unfolding in all of it's bravura.

The note was actually a letter from Ms. Canfield asking for Mr.and Ms. Cleaver's permission to allow the Beaver to play 'Smokey the Bear' in the school safety play.

Ms. Canfield kept the Beav after school after all of the details had unfolded to explain to him that she was his friend. 

Beav tried to explain that teachers and little boys were essentially not of the same substance, and that little boys had a bit of fear for the authority figures in their lives. 

Ms. Canfield told Beaver that "a teacher is a candle that consumes itself with a light to light the way for others".

She wanted Beaver to always know that she was his friend.

Beaver fibs are ok.

We've all told them.

It's when fibs become the intentional fraudulent misrepresentation of a material fact, designed to cripple or injure the needs of another, that we should really start to worry.

Look out for your clients, your family and your friends in these troubled days for our nation and light the way for them.