The following is an excerpt from a story in the Miami Herald last weekend. (Full piece here)
We got in the taxi on the way to visit her, and a few minutes into the drive we were laughing with the driver about some little thing. And then Deb asked him, as she does of most everyone she talks to, if he lost anyone in the earthquake.
He pulled out a tiny picture, the size you get for school pictures of his beautiful little 8-year-old girl.
She was out playing in the yard near a wall when the earthquake happened and the wall fell on her. He dug her out himself and she had already passed. He wanted to take her to the countryside to bury her and was trying to gather the money to arrange getting there.
He waited three days, but after three days he could not wait any longer. So he had to wrap her carefully in a sheet and carry her into the street. Front-end loaders were coming through the streets to scoop up the bodies left on the curbs. He could not stand to leave her in the street to be scooped up by a machine. The only thing he could do was wrap her in a sheet and place her gently in the bucket of the front end loader himself -- to be driven away and buried in a mass grave. He says he thinks of her every minute. ``I am resigned,'' he says.
I hesitate repeating this story. This story that is not mine, but only witnessed, knowing that I, who am writing it, and you who are reading it, can be touched and then move on through the day, while someone else forever lives the depths of it. I wonder what greater purpose it serves, or if it numbs people to suffering to hear people's hard stories.
My hope is that maybe, in some complex configuration that connects strangers across the world . . . some steady simple equation of ripple effects. . . that a heart hurting for this little girl will connect to some resolve to love larger. The strength to nurture some other precious life.
By TORY FIELD
![Livesay [Haiti] Weblog](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WImkelA85fQ/T774B_tbjMI/AAAAAAAANjM/Zup5rYTxdWs/s810/blog%2Bheader%2BTRL2011-07-07_%2B%25281%2529.jpeg)
Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it. -erwin lutzer
7 comments:
I understand your hesitancy in sharing, but I'm thankful you did. While I was touched by the story, it's true, I will be able to continue moving through my day much differently than this father will be able to. His daily life is changed forever. But having read this story, I will move through my day with a greater understanding of the world around me that I don't always see. It doesn't numb me, it softens my heart. Stories are good. Sharing stories about the human condition are very good. It keeps me compassionate and called to action. You said it yourself in a previous post - sharing the story of one person is very powerful. Please keep sharing...
thank you!
Thank you for sharing this. Your stories about Haiti make me re-think myself and my role.
The thought that comes to mind is: of those who have been given much... much is expected of them. (relating to what I have been given and helped through-out my life, of course)
Giving back has been part of me but I am hearing the message load and clear.
Mary Ann aka Joy
THANK YOU! Thank you for sharing and for stirring us all.
My eyes are burning with tears. My arms feel numb and my heart is aching in my chest. Yes, this story did touch me. Thank you so, so much for sharing this story. Although it was, indeed, not yours, it seems to me your responsibility to share it so people like me can be touched, changed...thank you so much for doing what was right and sharing this story with us.
My eyes are burning with tears. My arms feel numb and my heart is aching in my chest. Yes, this story did touch me. Thank you so, so much for sharing this story. Although it was, indeed, not yours, it seems to me your responsibility to share it so people like me can be touched, changed...thank you so much for doing what was right and sharing this story with us.
We have a tiny 8 yr old Haitian daughter. She turned 8 Jan 12th.
We did not lose her in the quake, but for 41 hours we didn't know if we had or not. She came home 2 weeks after the quake. I did not have to say goodbye to her on Jan 12th. But I will never forget that I might have had to. And that so many other did.
My heart weeps.
~Carol
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