Family Ties Are Everyone’s Sacrifice

       American communities are filled with people who seem to think they are “too busy” to help others but at the same time go around singing We Are Family. They believe it requires carrying huge burdens they don’t have time for. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s the small gestures that can turn a family’s turmoil into a future filled with love, hope, and compassion for others. All we have to do is acknowledge that we are all family and think of how we would feel if we were struggling and no one would help out.

        I met Ian, his nine-year-old Angela, and her six-year-old twin brothers, Cassius and Cassander, on a sunny Spring afternoon three years ago while strolling through the neighborhoods of Eastwood. It was a God-sent encounter of the Divine kind, one that would change my life forever. After saying “good morning” to the brothers and after a few minutes of conversation, they rushed into the house and brought their father, Ian, and sister, Angela, out to meet me. In the following weeks, I discovered why I never met their mother. She was a tyrant who insisted on being the breadwinner, leaving Ian home to harass and verbally abuse him and the children while she squandered the money she made on her secret qualms and obvious addictions. From that first day, I knew that through the good, the bad, and the unexpected,  we would always be a family.   

        I continued to follow the path of stewardship to fulfill my promise of involvement to those in need. I witnessed years of family strife that I knew, left unchecked, would lead to a divorce and the children with a lifetime of emotional chaos. I continued to support Ian and the children in as many ways as possible, both large and small, all the while being confronted by his wife’s angry, threatening, and false accusations. Most recently, she left Ian without a job and three distressed children.

         Since then, through uncompromising efforts, I have managed to help him get a job and lessen the mental strife of Ian and his adorable yet innocent and vulnerable children. I have realized that we all have the time to help people in their time of need in many ways because we are all family and children of the creator of everything. It’s not a choice but a duty to help everyone in whatever way possible. It doesn’t matter the size of the gesture, but the involvement that matters most. It’s just the right thing to do, and we all know it. It’s easy; just put yourself in someone else’s situation, and you will find the time, no matter what you or others may think.

Sacrifice

It is a measure of devotion

Never done out of glory

Or for the world to see

Sacrifice is meant to be silent 

And often goes unnoticed

It takes reflection of the soul 

To see the love shown

It goes beyond caring

Or giving of oneself

It is the things stories are made of

That you may find on a shelf

It can’t be requested

Or forced into being true

But a reflection

Of your Eternal you

For every sacrifice is a sacrifice, dear friends.