We helped an old man today.
It was almost the end of the night. Most of the train passengers had come and gone. We were getting ready to leave. Lingering for a few moments longer, in case of any last visitors.
That’s when the old man came, hesitantly, into our shelter.
He was from Syria.
He walked very slowly, with a cane. He had a limp.
His shoes were too big, flopping about loosely on his feet. He was cold.
He was quiet. He was tired. He was polite. He was grateful.
He showed us an injury on his knee. William put a special cream on it. It looked like a shrapnel wound. We gave him the jar of cream to take with him. Later he handed it back to me, misunderstanding. I put it in his pocket.
We gave him new shoes. We gave him new socks. We gave him a sweater, and pants, and a scarf.
There wasn’t a respectful or appropriate way to get a photo, so we skipped it. We often do.
Which is why I’ve simply attached a different photo to this story.
On the way home, in the car, with William, Zara, Orhan, and Djeki …
We were all quiet.
My mind, not.
“End this war. End this war.” My noisy mind said.
When I got home I asked William why he was quiet.
“It’s 4:00 in the morning,” he said. “But if you’d like, I can get out some cymbals.”
I smiled. “No need,” I thought. Cymbals enough in my mind.
I was thinking about the old man. Where would he go. Would he be okay. What about the other knee.
But, at the same time, we had given him shoes. He desperately needed those shoes. He was walking with a cane in the freezing cold and did not even have proper shoes.
I thought, “if that pair of shoes had cost $1000 and if I only had given shoes to that man tonight, it would have been worth it.”
Thank you to everyone who helped us give him shoes.
In this war, a pair of shoes sometimes feels like a drop in the bucket. A drop in the ocean.
But it’s an awfully important drop.
Sadly, this war hasn’t ended. The bombings in Syria have not stopped. And until they do, these tragedies will continue.
But we can continue, too. Like the war, we can also NOT STOP.
We can not stop fund raising. We can not stop sharing. We can not stop helping.
– Megan Tucker
To learn more, to share our cause, or to continue to help us help the innocent, please visit https://charityunited.us/donate/
All donations received through February 20 will be matched by an anonymous donor, up to $10,000.
Just saying.
– Megan Tucker
To learn more, or to help, visit https://www.facebook.com/
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.