The Marine's Father

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MountainWings A MountainWings Moment
#6280 Wings Over The Mountains of Life
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The Marine’s Father
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A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
"Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat
the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he
dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen
tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his
toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a
message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside
the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in
the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering
him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse
suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine
was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital -
the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff
members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other
patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying
man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the
night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the
now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the
nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy,
but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied.
"I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he
needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized
that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son,
knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

The next time someone needs you just be there. Stay.
We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual
experience.

We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human
experience.

~Author Unknown~

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