A Soldier was finally coming home
from war. He called his parents and said, “Mom and Dad, I’m coming, but I have
a favour to ask. I have a friend I would 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 war. He stepped on a landmine
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 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 and they never heard from him again. He committed suicide. It
wasn’t until the parents were asked to identify the body that they realized he returned
from war without his left leg and arm.
Whether this specific story is
true or ot is irrelevant, there are many like it that are true and the message
is always the same : Put Others First!
When we were growing up, our parents, teachers, preachers and society told us that blood-related family is more important than other people in the world. As a result, the capacity of our love is limited and conditioned to a point where we can watch an entire nation starving on television and feel indifferent because "they don't look like us". Our love must surpass religion or geographical region, blood relation or even species classification, for love is not truly love if it has conditions. We must treat those who are older than us as our grandparents, those our age as siblings, and all those who are younger than us as our own children. We are all ONE. Kids know how to love this way! when they see someone in pain (anyone, of any color , age or gender), even animals they feel their pain as if it was their own. They are deeply compassionate. we used to love this way when we were children, we have simply forgotten how!
