There is one detail I intended to mention, but forgot, from the previous story. And it involves the actual Sunday night encounter with the family when we first went to assess the situation. Our kids were with us but due to the sensitive nature of the location of the boy's sore, we kept them out of the room where he was laying. But our kids were aware of the situation and had heard our discussion to each other and to Marcy of how bad the infection was. Before we left, Nathan pulled a sucker out of his pocket and asked if we could give it to the boy. It touched my heart that he knew the boy was hurting and that it was serious and that he wanted to find some way to help. Jose took Nathan in with him and they gave the boy the sucker.
It's a double-edged sword having our kids exposed to the things they are seeing and experiencing. They are learning about hurt and problems in the world that they mightly likely never would have seen, at least not for several years. And they see and experience and feel the hurt and pain of children who don't have shoes that fit or a dry house or warm clothes or enough to eat. This causes my own children pain and guilt and they will never be the same for having seen these things at such a young age. They are learning that we can't solve all the problems of the world, but we can help individuals little by little in whatever way we can. Sometimes helping means sharing our food with a family who doesn't have enough, sometimes it means making a seat cushion so that an old man's rusty wheelchair can be more comfortable for him, and sometimes it just means offering a sucker to a sick boy.
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