Burky's Blog

Just Stay

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 lit
ward, holding the old man's hand and whispering words of love and
strength.

The nurse suggested he move away and rest awhile.

But he refused.

Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her
and of the noises in the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank,
the laughter of the night staff 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.

Towards early 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
patiently.

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.

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WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
(I love this line)

THIS IS WHAT WE ARE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO DO ANYWAY.

RIGHT ?