Proud Papa:
Yesterday my wife and daughter had lunch together in anticipation of my daughter’s dental appointment in which a tooth was scheduled to be removed. Not much fun to look forward to. I knew my daughter was filled with all sorts of trepidations. She is only eight years old, and having any sort of dental work at that age can be very scary.
As she was sitting with her mom in the food court of a local mall, enjoying her special lunch, she pointed out a homeless man who causing a bit of stir among the guests of the food court. Disheveled, with torn clothes and matted hair that looked almost Rastafarian and probably had not been washed in months, he was sitting near the trash compactor talking to himself. He would sometimes gesticulate or look rather wildly at the guests. Everyone in his vicinity was uncomfortable.
My daughter pointed the man out to my wife and said “ Mommy look that man is hungry. Can I get him some food?” My wife acquiesced with some concerns and watched very carefully as my daughter purchased a hamburger, some fries and a coke and walked over to the man. She stood right in front of him and looked him straight in the eyes, gave him a smile and said “This is for you. God bless you”. The man who had become very still at the sight of the little girl approaching him with food broke into the biggest smile you could imagine. All the wildness left him in an instant and he thanked her very appropriately. Suffice it to say that today I’m quite the proud papa.
