Thursday, September 20, 2007

I Have To Try

I know that I will not do this justice but I have to try. It was one of those moments where a picture would have said a 1000 words but alas I did not have my camera. So my minimal writing/story telling skills will have to do. I took Oliver to the park and while we were there a Chinese gentleman and his grand-daughter showed up to play. The kids played for a while then this man sat down on the stairs that lead up to the slide. It looked as though he had a string of prayer beads, or something similar, with him that he held dearly in his hands. The beads were nothing special but beautiful in the sense that you could tell they were his and that they were used often. Oliver, whom up until this point was loud and bouncing around, quietly walked up to this man and introduced himself properly by shaking his hand. He then sat down next to him and literally snuggled in close. He pointed to the beads and looked up at him as if to say, "What are those?" The man took Oliver's hand and gently put them onto his beads and showed Oliver how to roll them between his fingers. They sat there together, not saying a word, for quite sometime enjoying the meditative qualities of the worn beads rolling in their fingers. I was ready to pounce thinking that Oliver was going to try and take the strand at any moment but I'm glad I just stood back and let the exchange continue. Oliver looked up at him again and nodded his head, then the man quietly began saying, what sounded like short prayers to me, in Chinese as they both held the beads. I don't know why it touched me so much but the two of them were communicating even though they were years apart in age and neither could speak the other one's language. This went on for a couple of minutes then they were just sitting quietly smiling at each other. I asked Oliver if he was ready to head home yet, he stood up gave this man a hug, said "bye-bye" and climbed into the wagon. I have a feeling that there are a few people, including myself, that could learn a lot from the exchange that took place between these two. It's one that I won't soon forget.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so beautiful. I think in this case a picture would not have done it justice. Lucky you to have witnessed it!

Johnson Family said...

Yes, I was lucky but I almost felt like I was intruding. It was their moment not mine. =)

Anonymous said...

Tiffany. your description is beautiful. I will be using it on my radio show tomorrow (NOT the Route 66 Show) to show how precious some of these little kid moments can be.

M1 said...

Sis,
I have seen this man at the park myself several times.
We chatted as best we could.
He is always kind and respectful.
His granddaughter was always too shy to come up to Ollie. What a wonderful experience.

M1 said...

And perhaps he is our new hope for an honest, kind, accepting leader.

Suz... said...

what a sweet little man you have there!

Anonymous said...

All I can say is Amazing! What a great story!

Heather said...

I think you did this story perfect justice! I loved it.

Katie B. said...

It's those moments in life that keep us going.....little Ollie has a gift of touching people with his amazing smile and attitude...I just want to snuggle him up!!!!