RSSIt Was His Sole Possession
Jan 08
Religion inspirational Comments Off
“My job is children. I talk to them, reach out to them, and try to help them,” the young worker explained. “Recently, I was in Uganda visiting children that crossed the border from Rwanda. Children without parents, eyes glazed-over with no sign of life. Some had been soldiers fighting a war, others were orphans. They had nothing but the clothes they wore.
How could I reach them when I had not experienced the life they had lived? No matter what I tried to say, they just stared with those haunting, empty eyes. Finally, I said, ‘here take some paper and draw what you feel.’
Nothing — just empty stares and blank sheets.
Not knowing what else to do, I took a sheet of paper, a pencil, and drew my father. ‘This is my dad. He is dead,’ I said.
Unexpectedly the grief came and I started weeping. One child came up and touched my shoulder; a little girl handed me a rag to dry my tears.
What happened next cannot be explained, it just happened.
I said, ‘I help children with cancer, too.’ They started looking at me.
‘What is cancer?’ one asked.
‘A disease that is deadly and children have to go to a hospital to get well,’ I said.
‘What is a hospital,’ another asked.’
For 5 days, the children and I talked. Life and joy slowly returned filling their eyes with hope.
When I was leaving, a small boy ran up and said, ‘this sack is for you. Buy something for the cancer boy.’
Inside the sack was an 1896 Queen Victorian coin. It was his sole possession and he gave it to someone he did not know.
In a world gone crazy, there is hope in the inspirational example of a child.