Skip to main content

UNSEEN GIFTS.....

It had been a year since Susan, a once fiercely independent woman, became blind. She was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. Now all she had to cling to was her husband Mark. 
Eventually, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. 
At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark's need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however Mark realized that this arrangement wasn't working - it was hectic, and costly. Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. "I'm blind!" she responded bitterly. "How am I supposed to know where I'm going? I feel like you're abandoning me." Mark's heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the hang of it. 
For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied Susan to and from work each day and then took a cab back to his office. He taught her how to rely on her other senses, specifically her hearing, to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. Although this routine was even more costly and time consuming than the previous, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own. He believed in her.Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. 
Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, his love. She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday ... Each day on her own went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. She was doing it! She was going to work all by herself! 

On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual. As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said, "Boy, I sure envy you." Susan wasn't sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year? Curious, she asked the driver, "Why do you say that you envy me?" The driver responded, "It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are." Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, and replied, "What do you mean?" The driver answered, "You know, every morning for the past week, a fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady." Tears of happiness poured down Susan's cheeks. For although she couldn't physically see him, she had always felt Mark's presence. He had given her a gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn't need to see to believe - the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness.

 "Sometimes it's the unseen support that makes for the biggest gifts of joy."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CANNE-DEMONIUM

The scene resembled that of a pre-independent era, set in the Indian territory of Puducherry, where the French were trying to infiltrate India and inflict pain upon us with their advanced weapons. Except that it was mid-May 2007 in the French town of Cannes and it was the Indians trying to infiltrate France and inflict pain upon them with our Bollywood movies. One of the stars who made her presence felt at the Cannes Fest was Preity Zinta who was there to promote her theory that she did not have an affair with Louis the XVI that caused a rift between him and Marie Antoinette. The French media responded by asking her, “Qui l’enfer vous est?” (Who the hell are you?). She screamed a flurry of obscenities in Hindi at them and asked them to pardon her French. Rumors floated that Hrithik Roshan was seen flying around the area with his right hand up in the air screaming, “The double-thumb is here.”John Abraham,...

Uncounted Blessings

Whenever we gather together, The words are not easy to find, But love speaks a common language When people have ties that bind. We don't always say what we're feeling As often as families should; We don't count our blessings out loud, But somehow they're understood. We know that we're thankful for living With the comfort of each other's care; We're grateful for memories and stories, And the jokes that our family shares. We might leave a promise unspoken, But we know that we're loyal and true; We can count on companions through life, In the sunshine and shadows, too. We might show some special attention To a stranger, acquaintance, or guest, But we never forget in our hearts About those that we really love best. These blessings can never be counted Like money or gold dividends; They can only be shared as the love That exists when families are friends

Five Phrases...We Should Practice

The best manner to avoid having negative attitudes and emotions control our bodies is simply to practice the wisdoms that we have been given throughout the Qur'an and Hadith. We should say, 1 "Alhamdullilah" It produces calm and health to practice saying, "Alhamdulillah" for what we have 2 "Insha'Allah" for what we intend 3 "Subhana' Allah" when we see something exciting or amazing 4 Astaghfir'Allah" when we lose our tempers or become weak. and most importantly 5 "Allahu Akbar" when we are faced with the challenges of life. These five phrases, said regularly, are like taking a multi-vitamin for holistic health. There is much wisdom in the Prophet's (SAW) statement (narrated by Abu Huraira), "The strong [person] is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong [person] is the one who controls himself while in anger." In fact, staying patient and calm is key to physical strength.