The Last Wish gives a little Perspective

[tellytubby101]

 

I wake up to my radio every weekday morning. The presenters usually discuss dull, day-to-day things that interest me little. I like the music, so I listen to it regardless.

However, a few weeks back, the lead female host informed us (listeners) of a request they recieved. A little boy (four years old) was diagnosed with a cancer that definitely was going to be fatal and his last wish was to go on a police boat wearing a police hat. He hadn't left the hospital in a year or so.

His father was crying as he told us about his son's plight. It was devastatingly human and raw and so, so brutal. The boy was going to die, the parents were helpless, and still, the kid shone with the child-like wish to go on a police boat. He was so optimistic, too. He always tried to smile so his parents wouldn't cry.

The radio station pulled that together for him--the police were happy to help.

Not even two weeks later, I woke up to my radio alarm, cursing the light streaming through the curtains, and heard the little boy had died. The cancer looked like it was receding, but really, it was too much. All the parents were left with was a dead body and memories of his smile.

So, I wake up to my radio, and instead of listening just for the music, it reminds me not to take each day for granted. Life's short. Sometimes shorter for others.

I winge about work, about life, about people; but really, death--the death of someone so young and so optimistic--slapped everything into perspective. I'm healthy, with a roof over my head and a group of friends and family who love me.

I'm pretty lucky.