Weekly Readings

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	Aug 26, 2010
	The Old Fisherman
	Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients. One evening there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. I stared at the stooped, shrivelled body. But the appalling thing was his face -- lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning." He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. "I guess it's my face...I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments..." For a moment I hesitated, and then I told him we would find him a bed. It didn't take long to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with gratitude. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He was thankful he was given the strength to keep going. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but before he left, as if asking a great favour, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair." I told him he was welcome. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. Knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. I often thought of a comment our neighbour made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!" Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude. (by Mary Bartels Bray) How many of us judge people and dismiss them based on their looks. When we do we only short change ourselves, we miss out on meeting an amazing soul who could teach us something and inspire us. Take time to notice if you find yourself doing this.