If… you’ll be a Man my son!

Sometimes, if you are lucky, you get to see a child you helped raise in a light that tells you that they are, without a doubt, a human being you are proud to know.

Today was that day for us, regarding a young man I’ll call A. We helped A along the path of life when he, his sister and his mother were in the midst of sorting out how to move on after escaping from a brually abusive father and husband. The courts had banned the father from any contact ever with them (yes, it was that bad). We were matched through the county social services agency with them to help give the mom parental support and give A and his sister, who were 10 and 11 years old at the time, the loving support and attention and safety they needed. It worked for all of us, and gave us a sort of semi-blended family that’s been a great blessing for us.

This morning, as they were walking out of the funeral home where A’s grandfather’s memorial service had just been held, Michael and A witnessed an elderly couple, mourners who had attended the funeral, mistakenly pull out in front of another vehicle on a four-lane high-speed highway. The couple was struck broadside, with no chance for the driver of the other vehicle to avoid hitting them at a high rate of speed.

Without pause, Michael and A sprinted full out to the two vehicles, knowing one another so well that they didn’t waste time telling each other what needed to be done, who should do what, or how. A took charge of the occupants of one vehicle while Michael took the other, assessing injuries, directing other volunteers as they arrived, managing traffic around the accident site on this busy major highway and handling 911 information to brief the emergency personnel as to what to expect when they arrived. It was a terrible accident, but I am happy to say that in spite of the seriousness of the situation, everyone survived.

You can’t teach a kid to do what A did today. You can provide an example, you can teach them what you hope is going to get them through life, you can love them to bits, but what A did today? That comes from within. Very few people can handle what Michael and A handled today, much less deal with that kind of situation while they are literally walking out the door from attending the funeral of a beloved family member.

We couldn’t be prouder of A, or happier with the kind of man he has become.