I could not have been more wrong in saying that.
In my company, we have a a gentleman who nips the bottle a bit more than he should. There are frequent sick days, and problems at home with his wife. He's older, and planning to retire in November of this year, and yet has no savings put aside for this at all. He is not what you would call a prudent spender.
Yesterday, I got a chance to get to know a different side of him. He had brought in a large ziploc bag with perhaps three dozen photos in it. He had really only wanted to show us a photo of what an old family-owned hotel just outside a national park looked like before his uncle decided to tear the whole thing down and build a more modern one. While sorting through the photos, looking for the right one, there spilled out other pictures. These pictures showed his children as they were growing up, different trips they had taken, a photo with one of his daughters wrapping her arms around Daddy's neck... and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
This man is somebody's Daddy (granted, these kids are all grown up with kids of their own now). There were years and years that he worked hard to provide a decent living for his beautiful family. I've always thought of him as long-winded, but I've come to realize as I watch my own grandparents edge closer and closer to the grave, just what a bastion of history and experience older people are! And not just older people, but young ones as well!
How many times have we driven past the homeless man waiting for a handout on the freeway exit ramp, and we pretend not to notice him? I am guilty of that myself... quite a bit, actually. It's not that I don't like them, it's just I rarely have any money to give. But several years ago, before I was married, my brother and I would go down to the homeless camp on Thanksgiving day and help serve food to them from a local evangelical church. After serving food, we would go out and talk to these people and get to know them. They led amazing lives - the kind you only read about in Tom Sawyer type books. They would hop trains to get to different cities, they knew where to forage for food, and they had a freedom that was bound only by the most basic of needs - food and shelter. But these invisible people had lived fuller lives than many of us could even hope for. Talking with a woman who owned a house in Denver & had a job that she could go back to, she just shook her head and smiled, saying "Why would I want to go and do that, now?"
Most young children will be fortunate enough to not know what the inside of a hospital looks like, but three-year old Rebekah Adams is no stranger to the scene. Not only was she diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy at the end of 2004, but then a few short months later was diagnosed as having inoperable cancer in her face and neck (Ewing's Sarcoma). I look at this beautiful child, and I see my own little toddler. I can't stand that a little one has to go through such pain, and I can't imagine what it's like for her family. But this little girl too has a story - a story about lots of doctors, noisy machines, feeling sick... but also a story about the intense love of a family and community rallying around her. I hope and pray to God that she lives to tell these stories some day.
The point is: Nobody's a nobody, and everybody is a somebody. Even the most annoying, disgusting and seemingly worthless person is a somebody, with a life full of amazing experiences. There are things to be learned from other people - from old people, young people, beautiful people, not-so-glamorous people, smart people, not-so-smart people - All kinds of people. Every person is a treasure trove of experience and history, and so many of them are willing to share what they have. Be that person who says smiles and says hi to people, and you will live a richer life than any king or queen ever could.
"And When Everyone's Super... They're All Still Super."
No comments:
Post a Comment