Saturday, May 3, 2014

What Makes You Perfect?

Below is a short, poetic story to answer the question "What makes you perfect?" 
I had just found a thread online where people were answering this question. As I was thinking about it the experience described below took place and I really felt that it was contextually relevant.

My personal philosophy has always been "don't let perfect stand in the way of better." Something 'perfect' about me is my conviction that we should each focus on and offer up our strengths to one another in order to compliment each other. It's a philosophy that I've applied to how I raise my children, to my career, and in the advise I offer up to others... 

and so, the story begins... 

Sitting on the porch
My husband and I enjoy a nice, cool breeze.

Suddenly the dogs begin to bark and
We hear a young girl's voice shakily speaking softly,

"Excuse me
my chain fell off my bike. Can you help me?"

I turn and see a young girl with such hidden beauty. 
Her eyes were sweet and her smile was strong from what was probably years of fighting 
through ridicule and "everyone is picking on me."

I quickly scanned her, trying not to let it show.
I didn't want her to know
I was curious how she had gotten burned alive from head to toe. 

I caught her eyes, smiled, and extended a hand full of love.
To help her, we were happy
I asked "what's your name?"
She replied "Gabby"
"I'm Sarah"
She let out a breath of relief.

The chain had only slipped
A very simple fix
Showing her there's good in this world was well worth getting my hands dirty.

She began to leave and the bike was working well
Suddenly she turned asking,
"Do you know Israel?"

Warmth head to toe had begun
Holding tears I said, "yes, he's our son."
I've seen children burned and all sorts of grief
yet something about this girl was hitting me hard.
Hard to explain, hard to put into words... Such sadness & pain...
It was like I could see she was in some cycle of someone intentionally inflicting burns to her
Physically
Emotionally and
Spiritually...

Glowing, she says "he's my friend. Thank you. Israel is a friend of mine."

Gabby rode away
Enjoying life and a beautiful Spring day.

Emotionally I sat down, looked at my husband and said with resound
"Hearing Israel is her friend is such a relief."

Raising an 11 year old boy
no stranger to popularity
antithesis of bully
poster child for empathy 

This is a measurement of perfection for me. 


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