Going back Home

This is the story of a soldier that was finally going back home after having fought in Vietnam.

He phoned his parents in San Francisco:

-Mom, Dad, I’m heading home but before I do, I wanted to ask you for a favor.

I have a friend that I would like to bring along.

- Of course, they answered. We would love to meet him!

-There’s something that you need to know before, he continued.

-He was terribly wounded in combat. He stepped on a mine and lost an arm and a leg. The worse part is that he doesn’t have anywhere to go.

- Oh dear!!! Son, I’m sorry to hear that. Perhaps we can help him find a place to live!

- No mom, I want him to live at our house.

-Son, the dad began, you don’t know what you are asking for. You have no idea about the graveness of this problem. His mother agreed with her husband and added:

- Someone with such disability would be a burden for us. We have our own lives and we don’t want something like that to interfere with our lifestyle. We think that you should just come home and forget about that young man. He will find a way to make it on his own!

At that moment the son hung up the phone.

A few days later the parents received a phone call from the police informing them that their son had died after falling off a building.

The police suspected that it had been a suicide.

The anguished parents flew to the city where their son had been and were taken to the morgue in order to identify the body. They recognized him and to their horror and shock, they discovered something that they didn’t know: “THEIR SON HAD ONLY ONE ARM AND ONE LEG!”

The parents in this story makes us think about the people that think it is easy to love those that are perfect, beautiful, healthy, fun but don’t like or get close to people that suppose some burden or that make them feel uncomfortable. How much selfishness and lack of love towards your neighbor…