Posted on 11/29/2008 7:48:07 AM PST by whatshotandwhatsnot
~ A Baby's Hug ~
We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, 'Hi.' He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.
I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.
We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled.. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. 'Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,' the man said to Erik.
My husband and I exchanged looks, 'What do we do?'
Erik continued to laugh and answer, 'Hi.'
Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, 'Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.'
Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.
My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.
We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. 'Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,' I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's 'pick-me-up' position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man.
Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time.
I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, 'You take care of this baby.'
Somehow I managed, 'I will,' from a throat that contained a stone.
He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, 'God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift.'
I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, 'My God, my God, forgive me.'
I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, 'Are you willing to share your son for a moment?' when He shared His for all eternity. How did God feel when he put his baby in our arms 2000 years ago.
The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, 'To enter the Kingdom of God , we must become as little children.'
I’d reply, but there’s water on my keyboard. Roof must be leaking.
Same at my house—how strange!
You’re right. Thank you for sharing.
This is really sweet........truth of fiction....it was very touching.
Dang it, I knew how it was going to end, but I’m tearing up. Sheesh, you guys.
Have a great day! My family sends their wishes and love.
Blurry screen alert....
There is nothing like a good dose of humility.....
That’s excellent!
Did I read that right? They consummated their love?
I go to our county courthouse several times a month. I used to avoid the weird smelly people there. Now I make eye contact and sometimes ask if I can help them find something. They are children of God and as I silently bless them in my heart, I know I’m the one receiving the blessing and that this person standing by my side in the elevator may be an angel sent to teach me or others something we need to know. This email is a wonderful story. Someone dear to me is a recovering alcoholic. He still has grooming issues not the least of which is psoriasis. I’m sure that there are those who move away from him. I also remember going with my father to the Houston Bus Terminal when he, my father, was the manager. He was proudly showing me around and showing me the “colored” waiting room which he had locked up (pre civil rights act) and a rather smelling black man came up and my father introduced him to me as if he were a collegue. The man hugged me and kissed me. I was repelled. I still think about that encounter. I’m still learning from it 48 years later.
>Whether it really happened or not is not important; the meaning and message is.
That’s the telltale sign of a parable.
That was beautiful. If only we could all see each other through the eyes of children.
May we all carry that spirit of God's love every day of our lives.
Your question, whether it's a joke or not, is an example of how misunderstood and popularized pseudo-Freudianism and the like have degraded eros so that it is indistinguishable from genital sexual activity in which somebody has some kind of genital sexual release.
As his words suggest, all the old drunk wanted was a hug, and all the toddler wanted was a hug. Yes, there is an erotic aspect to that, but eros is not as limited in its sphere of action as tawdry modern thought thinks it is.
Love was consummated, in a manner appropriate to a toddler and a derelict. There was a giving and receiving of selves and affection.
Our Lord, or at any rate my Lord -- I wouldn't want to presume, described his suffering and dying on the cross as a consummation.
Thanks for a great story!!
There was no “sobbing-need-kleenex warning”?
Lord, fill and bless us with the love and happiness that baby showed.
“He still has grooming issues not the least of which is psoriasis.”
Psoriasis is not a grooming issue. It’s an autoimmune disease.
Actually, according to the ancient Greeks, there were (at least) five different kinds of love: agape (ideal or Platonic love), eros (passionate love), philia (love between friends), storge (natural affection, e.g., between parents and children), and xenia (hospitality towards strangers).
So, in fact, you are mistaken when you claim that the completely non-sexual hug exchanged between the child and the vagrant in this story had an "erotic aspect." That's because eros does indeed always have sexual connotations (though, of course, it need not always result in "release.")
On the other hand, you are quite right in pointing out that the word consummation does not refer only to the completion of marriage by sexual intercourse, but also to the completion and/or fulfillment of any plan, concept, or transaction.
Regards,
Well, I'm mistaken if the Plato through C.S. Lewis account and distinctions of the kinds of love is adequate. I happen not to think that it is.
That's because eros does indeed always have sexual connotations (though, of course, it need not always result in "release.")
I think Freud, rightly understood (that is, of course, understood the way I, moiself, understand him), is right that there is some drive or tendency (which he calls "Eros" but I don't think he means to confine himself to the Greek understanding of Eros) which is at work or part of one's relationship to a child, a pet, a rose, a friend, a lover, a spouse, or God himself.
This is why I tried to distinguish (in my use of language) between "sexual" and "genital". (I find "sexual" a vague term. The division which "sex" implies does not exist in homosexual eros manifested in genital acts, though that has ambiguous implications.) I would say that not all "Eros" is genital. I would disagree with a friend who maintained that the mature expression of "Eros" is genital. I would want to say that "Eros" functions in the infant rooting for the breast (as well as in the adolescent boy fumbling for the same, but with different plans.) But I would also says that is is a component or an "input" of my reciting the Rosary, which, I would speedily add, does not mean that I have any "physical" longings for Our Lady. I do have a longing for increasing union with God.
Back to the classics: I think the Phaedrus looks at Eros as a kind of instigator of the Philia in philosophy, and while I have not read the relevant documents, I believe BenXVI also discusses Eros as an element or maybe precursor of love for God. Certainly there is an erotic aspect to Catherine of Siena's writing.
I avoided the use of "agape", because I had a thought that it was not used much by ancient Greeks. My Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich and my Kittel find almost nothing but uncertain evidence before the Christian era. The word does seem to show up in a prayer to Isis. I think its technical use really begins with Paul. I think philia is the "Platonic" love.
Well, I hope that's clear, if not plausible ....
You’re right. That was a poorly drafted sentence. When he eats well and uses his topical stuff however, which are sort of grooming issues, it is better. I’m just saying that others see it as a grooming issue.
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