Good Morning

To forgive is the highest, most peaceful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.

Today we went to one of my favorite colonies, Bethal Nagar. Annie and I are helping Dr. Kumar with a new project. Six months ago he took pictures of all the patients ulcers and we are taking new pictures that show the improvement they have made. Some of the changes they've made over the past six months have been miraculous. Dr. Kumar is going to compile all of the pictures together into a book he is writing. He is such an amazing person. One of the patients was struggling with his shoe. He was unable to tighten the buckle so I pulled with all my might. Unfortunately, the buckle broke. My goodness I felt so bad! This man has nothing and I broke his everything. This was probably the only shoe he had and I broke it! I taped the buckle on and used my hairband to hold it together. About ten minutes later I noticed he was talking to Dr. Kumar. I figured he was telling him what I had done and I felt even worse. I came to help and I only made things worse. I approached them and told Dr. Kumar what had happened after the man had walked away. Dr. Kumar told me that the man had already told him everything. The man told him to not worry about it and that he didn't want Dr. Kumar to be mad at me. As I discussed the matter with Dr. Kumar the man came back and gave me a hug. He spoke little english, the only expression he knew was, "good morning", so he kept repeating it over and over again. Initially the expression was meaningless but as I reflected on it later it became very meaningful. Good morning represents a new day, a new beginning, a clean slate. He had forgiven me and within minutes we were taking pictures together and uncontrollably laughing. He was the last person to leave, he stayed to keep us company as we packed away the medical supplies. He repeatedly thanked Dr. Kumar for saving his life. Months ago he was on his death bed with no will to live and Dr. Kumar told him that there was so much to live for. He gave him hope. That is why the shoe was so insignificant to him. He had hit rock bottom and because of that he knew what was really important. A broken shoe meant nothing but a forgiving heart meant everything.