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The Love of a Son
A nurse escorted a tired,
anxious young man, to the bedside of an elderly
man.
Your son is here, she whispered to the patient.
She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
He was heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack and he
dimly
saw the young man standing outside the oxygen tent.
He reached out his hand and the young man tightly wrapped his fingers around
it, squeezing a message of encouragement. The nurse brought a chair next to
the bedside. All through the night, the young man sat holding the old man's
hand, and offered gentle words of hope. The dying man said nothing
as he
held tightly to his son
As dawn approached, the patient died. The young man placed on the bed the
lifeless hand he had been holding, and then he went to notify the nurse.
While the nurse did what was necessary, the young man waited.
When she had finished her task, the nurse began to say words of sympathy to
the young man. But he interrupted her.
Who was that man? He asked.
The startled nurse replied, I thought he was your father.
No, he was not my father, he answered. I never saw him before in my life.
Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?, asked the
nurse.
He replied, I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't
here.
When I realized he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his
son, I knew
how much he needed me....
Author unknown
since 11/9/2001
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Barbe's Place
