Once upon a time, there was a family of three. The father had recently died and the new widow had one daughter and one son. The daughter was 12, the son was 10. Within the year, the widow remarried with a construction worker who had four sons of his own. The new stepfather was kind to the two children and insisted that the two children receive an education alongside his own children, although times were tough and the family was not wealthy. He especially insisted that the girl gets an education as well, and for this, the girl was eternally grateful.
Three months after the marriage, the construction worker fell three stories at the site of construction. He broke his spine and was paralyzed from the neck down.
Understandably, the new wife felt terribly bad for him, but even more sorry for herself. She felt that she couldn’t possibly be destined for such a terrible, luckless life. One husband dead, the second husband an invalid. Not long after, she made plans to take her two children and leave her husband. The daughter pleaded with her mother to stay and take care of the stepfather, because she felt that her mother shouldn’t be so selfish. Her mother refused to listen and kept replying that it was for their own good. In the end, the mother left anyway, but the girl refused to leave with her and decided to stay to take care of her stepfather.
The four sons were all in school, either in high school or college. The girl told her stepfather that she would stop schooling to take care of him. However, she insisted that her stepbrothers continue their schooling,
This twelve year old girl tried to earn her keep by selling blood. She even lied about her age to appear older, so that she would be eligible. For four years, she took care of her stepfather’s daily needs and sold blood on the side to make more money.
One day, at the age of 16, she had just come back from another session of bloodletting and she was weak and disoriented. As she was walking down the street, a small bus that came by and side-swiped her by accident. She died on the spot.
Can you believe this story? A coworker recounted this story during lunch today. I almost got teary-eyed. A 12 year old girl who understands the true value of love. It truly puts me to shame. I don’t think I did the girl justice in the way I recounted the story. However, I didn’t want to get all mawkish and sentimental. If however this story is true, I can only say, her life may have been short, but it was truly well lived.
11 comments:
I fail to see how being sideswiped by a bus equates to a life well lived.
hahahah....when I saw the comment box, I knew you'd be leaving a snarky remark of some sort.
I just found your statment to be a bit ironic. Ala I Ron Butterfly.
yeah but death is inevitable. the manner in which you meet your death has no pertinence in how a life can be judged, at the end.
I guess it was God's way of rewarding her for all her hard work and sacrafice. He put her out of her misery.
Emily: is the cup half full or half empty?
Jason: the cup is half empty and the water is poisoned with arsenic and whoever drinks of this cup will die a slooow painful death.
I'm the ying to your yang.
you're only jolly when you're making fun of canadians
Yeah, that Dudley Do Right, he's a real hoot.
what is that? a cheesy cartoon character?
You can't call Dudley cheesey. How dare you!
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