The Night Watch

My dear friend, Mark sent this to me. Thought it should be posted for the world to read. I just wish more people would take heed of it's message.


NIGHT WATCH
by Roy Popkin

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is
here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several
times before the patient's eyes opened. Heavily sedated because of the
pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine
standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand.

The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones,
squeezing a message of love and encouragement. The nurse brought a chair
so that the Marine could sit beside the bed.

All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted
ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and
strength.

Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest
awhile. He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine
was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the
clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members
exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients. Now
and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said
nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now
lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she
did what she had to do, he waited. Finally, she returned. She started
to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her. "Who was
that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father" she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my
life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed
his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too
sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed
me. I stayed."

The next time someone needs you...be there. Stay. You'll be glad you
did.

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