At The VA Hospital

My daughters and I went to the VA to visit a new found friend, which is a wonderful story in itself but that is not where we gave the dollar. We were leaving the hospital and I told the girls that this would be a great place to give a dollar. We sat down in the front lobby and looked around.

Outside on a bench, in old clothing, was a older gentleman smoking a cigarette by himself and looked pretty lonely. When I approached him he originally said he did not want our dollar but I told him it was for a project and that we really wanted him to have it. He looked up and smiled taking the dollar.

My girls moved closer and I asked him if he was visiting someone or was here to see a doctor. His response was "I'm through". I asked him what he meant and he pulled up his sweat pants to reveal very dark, almost black ankles. I asked him if he was a diabetic, he said yes and that he would soon be having his feet amputated.

I told him that we would pray for him and that we would keep him in his thoughts. It appeared that we lifted his spirits. As we drove away he appeared to be praying. In hindsight, we should have prayed with him right then and there.

My daughters seemed really jazzed by the event and I felt they seemed to understand that those different than ourselves are not "weird" or scary. Thank you for the challenge.