My own son has had difficult times, and Lord knows if there was any way for me to do what this father did for his child, I would without hesitation. I don't know the moral of the following story from my Grandfather, but it made me think many times about how I looked at or treated people. The story was something like:
There was a farmer who had one eye. His son avoided him and thought his appearance was an embarrassment. He was always helping the neighbors in any way he could to raise a few more dollars to help the son. One day during elementary school he came to see his son, his son told his friend that the man wasn’t his father, but they knew. He thought “How could she do this to me?” The next day at school some of his classmates said, “EEEE, your dad only has one eye!”
When the son came home, he told his father he wished he would just disappear. His son exclaimed, “If you’re only going to make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?”
The father did not respond… The son didn’t even stop to think for a second about what he had said, because he was full of anger. The son was oblivious to his father’s feelings.
The son wanted out of that house, and nothing to do with his father. So he studied real hard and earned chance to study abroad. Then, he got married, bought a house, and had kids. The son was so happy with his life without his father.
Then one day, his father came to visit. He hadn’t seen him in years and he had not even meet his grandchildren. His son always told his family his parents were dead. The farmer was aware of the success and happiness of his son, but was concerned about the embarrassment he would have caused, so he stayed away.
When the son stood by the door, his children laughed at his father. The son yelled at him for coming over uninvited. He screamed, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!”
And to this, his father quietly answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address.” – and he disappeared out of sight. He told the family it was an old co-worker.
One day, the son was informed of a school reunion. After the reunion, he went to the old farm just out of curiosity. The neighbors said that his father had died. The son did not shed a single tear. The neighbors handed him a letter that his father had wanted him to have.
“My dearest son,
I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children. I came to see you as I had liver failure and needed a donor. If you reading this letter, a donor was not found. I think it is important you know, when you were very little there was an accident and you lost your eye. As a father, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine.
I am so proud of you! You are seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye.
With all my love to you,
Your father.”
I recall the first time Grandpa told the grandkids
this story. We had just met a
child of my grandfather’s neighbor.
I was six years old that summer (year left out intentionally). The child had a severe case of Down syndrome, and the five Grandchildren did not act nice. I know I was uncomfortable. I stared and reacted rudely, as I did not know what to
do? My Grandfather took the kids into the living room, took out the bible (he always held the bible when he told a story), and told us the story.
I became pretty good
friends with that Downs Syndrome boy (but can't recall his name!) and many handicapped, fat, unusual people,
… over the years. The less fortunate have so much to offer everyone if
we get past the differences from us…
Thanks, Grandpa!
