Sometimes, I meet people and learn bits of their story…at the store, at a traffic light, at work, at school. They are often unexpected—the stories I hear—but I am rarely as moved as I was this week during an encounter with a stranger.
Perhaps, it was because she was a mother who was heartbroken for her child. This mama bear could recognize another who’d surrendered the fight as pointless, even at the expense of her child’s well being. She had lost. But it was a far more serious loss than I had ever endured. I had no idea how to respond, and when I did, it seemed so hollow, so cheaply spoken from a person so far removed from her brokenness.
She cried. She’d tried. She held the hand of her child who only stared up at me without fully understanding why his mother was talking to me at all. I was just a tongue-tied stranger who happened to cross their paths.
What could I say to make a difference?
All I could think to do was apologize. Not because I had anything to do with her situation, but because I was so so sorry. Sorry that life wasn’t fair, sorry that I couldn’t fix her situation, sorry that her tears were no match to all that was stacked against her.
Her humility and defeat, nearly brought me to my knees. And somehow, she had the politeness to smile and say goodbye. With all she was facing, her decency remained in tact.
Would I be able to do the same in such adversity?
Lord have mercy on the least of us—on the mothers and fathers and children who are at the mercy of others. May they encounter too much gentleness, too much kindness, and strangers who know exactly what to do to make a difference.❤️
“We cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of one who gives and kindles joy in the heart of one who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other, not even those whom you catch committing an evil deed. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Keep away from the spilling of speech. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around.”
—St. Seraphim of Sarov
angie dicken 