A
story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after
having fought in Vietnam. He
called his parents from San Francisco.
"Mom
and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend
I'd like to bring home with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd
love to meet him."
"There's
something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty
badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an
arm and a leg.
He
has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."
"I'm
sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere
to live."
"No,
Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."
"Son," said
the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with
such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our
own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere
with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget
about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own."
At
that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing
more from him.
A
few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco
police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they
were told.
The
police believed it was suicide.
The
grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to
the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized
him, but to their horror they also discovered something they
didn't know,
their
son had only one arm and one leg.
The
parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to
love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we
don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable.
We
would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful,
or smart as we are.
Thankfully,
there's someone who won't treat us that way. Someone who loves
us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever
family, regardless of how messed up we are.
Tonight,
before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer
that God will give you the strength you need to accept people
as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those
who are different from us!!!
| Authors
Details: Unknown Author |
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