The Boy With No Feet

One of my fondest memories as a boy was my grandfather. He was an Italian immigrant who truly came from nothing to live the American dream. He amassed wealth, friends, family and a knack for storytelling. His stories were meant to teach his children and grandchildren life’s lessons. One story was “The boy with no feet.” He told me that one winter he was so poor that he had to walk with no shoes. He was cold and feeling depressed about his condition. “Why me? Why must life be so hard for me? I don’t even have shoes!” he cried out. Then he came across a boy sitting in the alley, he had no FEET! It took me many years to truly appreciate what my grandfather was trying to teach me. “I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I saw the boy with no feet.” As with many of life’s lessons we tend to forget, this year I remembered.

The holidays are a beautiful time of the year. For some people they can be difficult. This year was a tough one for me. I was going through one of those periods when I was looking at my life half empty not half full. Maybe it’s Walt Disney’s fault but where is the white picket fence, and happily ever after? When I was young I always thought it would be simple. You graduate high school, then college, you call in love, get married, two kids, picket fence you know, happy! What happened? Through the glow of Christmas lights I keep thinking how different life really is as compared to what I believe it would be. I though the toughest task was to establish a career. I was wrong. It is relationships and/or marriage. They never taught us that in school. I do know one thing for certain. 60% of my friends have not failed at their career. So there I was over the holidays feeling depressed over things that might have been. Thinking how lonely and hard life can be. I was about to get a rude awakening.

I am a firm believer in God. I also believe that God may not have a written plan for everyone but he bathes us in opportunity. It is our job to see his wisdom in earthly events. A relative was very sick in December so I went to see her in the hospital. I found out what wing she was in and followed those silly lines on the floor. Thinking I was about to enter her wing, I walked into the pediatric oncology ward. I honestly believe this was one of God’s interventions. As I walked through the door I saw little girls with I.V.s in their arms and no hair on their heads. I was overcome with sadness. There were small boys with dark circles under their eyes wearing little baseball hats. My heart hit the floor. The ironic thing was the children were still acting like children. For the most part they just wanted to be kids. They did not totally understand, but their parents sure did. I did not think anything could move me more than seeing these kids until I saw the pain in their parents’ eyes. It was something so deep, so hurtful it defies description. I kept thinking how devastating it must be to be a parent and be powerless to help your baby. That must be the toughest pain this world can create. As I left the hospital I realized this as my “boy with no feet.”

The events of that day were a true wake up call. There are times when we all fall into a self pity mental state. Of all the blessings in our life we look to what is missing from our wish list. We rarely give thanks or feel good about how lucky we really are. I relived my experience in the hospital thousands of times in my head. I kept coming up with the same conclusion: I DON’T HAVE REAL PROBLEMS, I HAVE INCONVENIENCES. I believe that is true for most of us. When we examine how the rest of the world lives, we Americans need to give thanks and realize how blessed we are.

We all have disappointments and most of us probably feel something is missing at some level or wish things had turned out different in life. The lesson here is not to allow what we think is missing to overshadow all the good in our lives. As you think back to “the boy with no feet” ask yourself are you healthy? Is your family healthy? Do you have friends? If you answered yes, then you are truly a rich “man.” Finally, try to remember, if we are not happy with what we have why would God give us more? Life is good, let us not forget!