Stories of Kindness from Around the World

About eight years ago, I was a new teacher in the local women's minimum security jail, where most of the inmates are incarcerated for drug offenses.

During one of my classes, a woman was crying and in a lot of pain. Her 17-year-old daughter had been recently assaulted. She wanted to see her,  but had no way to get to the hospital 30 miles away which cares for children with no health insurance. Having a daughter the same age, I asked the superintendent if it would be possible for me to drive the woman to the hospital. I was granted permission to escort her for three hours on the following Saturday. 

I found some nice clothes for the mother to wear and I borrowed my friend's blue convertible. On the 30 minute drive to the hospital, we rode with the top down and sang to the songs from the disks I brought. We were both in good spirits when we arrived at the hospital.

Her daughter was in worse shape than either of us could imagine. Her body was contorted and she did not  recognize her mother who was visibly shaken to see her lovely daughter so frail and deathly. I encouraged her to massage her daughter's hands, stroke her face and talk to her softly. I asked if there were any lullabies she sang to her daughter as a child. She said no, so I sang some of the songs I used to sing my daughter to sleep. 

We stood outside of the hospital after spending about an hour and a half with her daughter. The mother was in a deep state of depression and hopelessness, as well as guilt in not being there to care for her daughter. She wept, and I held her silently in my arms.
A few weeks later, I learned that her beautiful daughter had passed away. That Saturday was the last time her mother would see her, speak to her, stroke her.

While it may seem as though I did a good deed, it was I who was given a tremendous gift. Life can be fleeting and fragile, and we really never know how it will unfold. That afternoon, I was reminded to never take those I love for granted.