“If
nobody smiled and nobody cared and nobody helped us along. If nobody
cared just a little about you and nobody cared about me, and we stood
alone, in the battle of life, what a dreary old world this would be.”
The words above say a lot
about life. When all is said and done, life is worthwhile living because
of the friends we have made. We don’t carry on in life to be alone -
we want to live on because of the people who care and because of the
people for whom we care.
“It is doing and giving
for somebody else on which all of life’s splendor depends. The joy of
this world, when you’ve summed it all up, is found in the making of
friends.”
With this in mind, I am sure
you will enjoy the following story entitled “The Littlest
Firefighter”.
The 26-year old mother
stared down at her son who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her
heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of
determination. Like any parent she wanted her son to grow up and fulfill
all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible. Leukemia would see to
that. But she still wanted her son’s dreams to come true. She took her
son’s hand and asked, “Billy, did you ever think about what you
wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you
would do with your life?”
“Mommy, I always wanted to
be a fireman when I grew up.”
Mom smiled back and said,
“Let’s see if we can make your wish come true.”
Later that day she went to
her local fire department where she met Fireman
Dave who had a heart as big as the whole city. She explained her
son’s final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her
six-year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine.
Fireman Dave said, “Look,
we can do better than that. If you’ll have your son ready at seven
o’clock Wednesday morning, we’ll make him an honorary fireman for
the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out
on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! And if you’ll give us his
sizes, we’ll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat -
not a toy one - with the emblem of the Fire Department on it, a yellow
sticker like we wear and rubber boots. They’re all manufactured right
here in town, so we can get them fast.”
Three days later Fireman
Dave picked up Billy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him
from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Billy got to
sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station.
He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in the city that day and
Billy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire
engines, the paramedic’s van and even the fire chief’s car. He was
also video taped for the local news program. Having his dream come true,
with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply
touched Billy that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought
possible.
One night all of his vital
signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the
hospice concept that no one should die along, began to call the family
members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as
a fireman, so she called the fire chief and asked if it would be
possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy
as he made his transition.
The chief replied, “We can
do better than that. We’ll be there in five minutes. Will you please
do me a favour? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights
flashing, will you please announce over the PA system that there is not
a fire? It’s just the fire department coming to see one of it’s
finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his
room?...Thanks.”
About five minutes later a
hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital, extended its ladder up to
Billy’s third floor open window and 16 firefighters climbed up the
ladder to Billy’s room. With his mother’s permission they hugged him
and held him and told him how much they loved him. With his dying
breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, “Chief, am I
really a fireman now?”
“Billy, you are,” the
chief said.
And with those words, Billy
smiled and closed his eyes one last time.
Remember the words of the
poem...”It is doing and giving for somebody else on which all of
life’s splendour depends.”
Reach out and show that you
care. You may be making somebody’s dream come true.
Have a good week!