Homecoming

A man was on the side of the road with a large birdcage.  A boy noticed that the cage was full of birds of many kinds.   "Where did you get those birds?" he asked.

"Oh, all over the place," the man replied.  "I lure them with crumbs, pretend I'm their friend then when they are close, I net them and shove them into my cage."

"And what are you going to do with them now?"

The man grinned, "I'm going to prod them with sticks, and get them really mad so they fight and kill each other. Those that survive, I will kill.  None will escape."

The boy looked steadily at the man.  What made him do such things?  He looked into the cruel, hard eyes.  Then he looked at the birds, defenseless, without hope.   "Can I buy those birds?" the boy asked.

The man hid a smile, aware that he could be on to a good thing if he played his cards right.  "Well," he said hesitantly, "The cage is pretty expensive, and I spent a lot of time collecting these birds, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll let you have the lot, birds, cage and all for ten pounds and that jacket you're wearing."

The boy paused, ten pounds was all he had, and the jacket was new and very special, in fact it was his prized possession. Slowly, he took out  the ten pounds and handed it over, then even more slowly he took off his jacket, gave it one last look then handed that over too.

"Thank you very much," the man said.  "What are you going to do with all these birds now?"  The man stood watching in disbelief, a muffled   utterance escaping his lips as the child opened the door to release  the birds.

Looking up into the eyes of the hardened man, the small child commented in response, "Hate holds on, while Love lets go."

The greatest lessons of selfless love I've ever learned came with the death of my daughter and later letting my spouse choose her own future. We may have to wait a life-time to know the whole story, or discover that our greatest fears can be transformed into a miraculous fairytale. 

Either way, holding dearly the time we share with them each day is what counts.

Letting loved ones go is tough... and God knows it first hand.   

Daniel