Re: COMPLETELY off topic -- MIDRANGE-L

Joe, what a great story! I'm going to pass it on to some people who will
magnify the effect of it.

Life is always on topic.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Pluta" <joepluta@PlutaBrothers.com>
To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 8:31 PM
Subject: COMPLETELY off topic


> I just got back from a short vacation with my family in Orlando.  I
managed
> to carve out a few days to go see Mickey.  I'd like to relate something
that
> happened.  It's completely unrelated to the iSeries, or to programming, or
> much of anything we talk about here, but it affected me so profoundly that
I
> wanted to share it.
>
> There inevitably comes a time when pounding the pavement in the Wonderful
> World of Disney that one has to make use of one of the many bright,
> sparkling facilities wherein a man can do what a man's gotta do.  I had
> occasion to do just that, and as I headed to the sink, I noticed a man in
> [perhaps his mid-30's pushing a stroller.  In the stroller was a young
boy,
> age indeterminate, with the unmistakable signs - withered limbs, spastic
> movements - of some severe neurological disorder.  The man parked the boy
> out of the way of the crowd, and moved to take my place.  As we passed one
> another, I noticed that the boy also had the distinctive eye cast of the
> sightless.  I felt a quick wave of pity start to wash up, but it was cut
off
> by this exchange:
>
> Boy: "Are you using the potty, Daddy?"
> Dad: "Yes, I am."
> Boy: "Is it a nice one?"
> Dad: <pause> "Yes, son, it's very nice."
>
> Floored, I wandered out in a little bit of a daze.  Tears came to my eyes,
> but whether they were of sadness or joy or both it was hard to tell.  As I
> type this, they reappear, and it's just as hard to tell.  Sure, I'm sad
for
> the young man trapped in a body ravaged by illness, but at the same time,
> that simple exchange told me so much - about the relationship between the
> man and his son, about the boy's comfort in his own circumstances, about
the
> fact that despite the suffering the boy and his family had obviously
> endured, that somehow the father had built for his child a world centered
> not on self-pity but on joy, where even public bathrooms could be "nice".
> There was more love expressed in some 20 words than poets have managed to
> convey in entire epics.
>
> Vacations have their share of ups and downs, but whenever something
untoward
> happened from that point on and I was tempted to view the situation from
an
> ill-tempered vantage, I just remembered that little boy, and I was
instantly
> reminded that this life is indeed a nice one.  A very nice one.
>
> I hope I continue to remember that little boy.
>
> Joe
>
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