Tired Eyes of a Lonely Child

Tired eyes - I´m sure you have all seen eyes like the ones in this story at some point or another. Pleading for love and help. The question is: did you do something about it?

If you have a story to share of someone always willing to help, you can tell about them at the end of the page.

Lets spread the word of the unselfish helpers among us. Maybe the good habit spreads - after all we are here for each other and we all need help sometimes.

One morning Maila woke up with a start. She had seen a vivid dream of a child. She could not remember was the child a boy or a girl, all she could remember were the huge big tired eyes of a lonely child pleading for love and the voice that cried out "Find me!"

Maila was one of those people who used all her free time to help others. You could see her feeding old people at the old people´s homes. She was the one who pushed the wheelchairs of those the nurses and families had no time for. She made sure everyone got a spin on the dance floor at the wheel-chair dance events of the old and handicapped. She sat by the bedside of the old and dying, and attended their funerals when no one else came.

She showered everyone with tiny gifts. She wrote poems and songs. She had the biggest heart and hug - and she had the blessing on healing hands. She cured many ailments with her touch and prayer, and did it all in quiet, never bragging about it. The others did that for her even though she would have wanted to do her helping without raising attention to herself. But it is hard to keep an angel a secret and so the word spread, bringing even more people in need of help to her attention. And she helped them all.

Still, even though she was used to people in distress, she was shaken by the dream of the tired eyes. Who was this lonely child that was calling for her? Where could she find him or her?

Because of her frequent visits at the hospitals and old people´s homes she had made many friends among the nurses. She told of her dream to one of them. Maila had no driver´s license and this nurse immediately said she would drive her around as long as it took Maila to find the lonely child of her dream. The nurse was certain the child would be in an institution. It made sense because Maila was spending all her time in such institutions.

And so they started searching. First they drove to every local hospital and institution where there were children. They visited the wards and met the children. Maila felt awkward because she had no idea what the child would look like. All she could do was to trust her feelings. She did not find her child.

Then they started driving in ever expanding circles, going to other towns and cities. They did this for weeks. The tired eyes of her dream were vivid in Maila´s mind. She was not going to give up her search. Somewhere there was a soul who had cried out for her and she would find that child.

Then one day they decided to visit an institution for severly handicapped children that was located 70 km away. This institution housed children that were so badly handicapped they could not be taken care of at home. Many of the children had been abandoned as babies. There were stories of mothers who never told their new husbands they had had a handicapped child.

Maila felt such sorrow when she saw these children. Most of them could not talk or move on their own. They were sitting or lying in their beds with stick thin crooked limbs. The nurses here were wonderful and tried to do their best to keep the children happy and show them love. But like everywhere else - there was never enough nurses to tend to them all with the love they so needed. The nurses also had tired eyes.

They walked into yet another room. Maila looked around and greeted the children even though she knew they could not answer her.

And then she saw the tired eyes she had been looking for. Huge violet blue eyes staring at her from a bed. They belonged to a girl who was as light as a whisper, thin, crooked. She looked like a little beautiful butterfly someone had crushed and tossed away. She could not speak but looked at Maila with such longing in her eyes Maila recognized her immediately.

Maila went to her, stroked her shiny dark short hair and kissed her on the cheek.

- There you are! she said, - I finally found you!

And the girls eyes were so full of joy no one dared to doubt they were meant to find each other. All the love she could not express with her words, was written in her eyes.

Maila went to see Minna, the disabled girl, as often as she could. They only had a few months together - Minna was so severly handicapped her body just gave in one day and she passed away peacefully. It was a very small group that attended the funeral, but they all knew the happiest time of her life had been those few months with Maila. And now she had finally spread her wings and flew with the angels.

And of course Maila continued her visits to the institution. She "adopted" a boy, Nekko, who was just as badly handicapped as Minna had been. She got permission to bring him home at times, and the boy enjoyed this immensely. Nekko´s body also gave in one day, and Maila came in time to sit with him at the hospital when he slipped away. The doctors wondered how calm the boy was - he was supposed to have been in great pain because of his condition. But Maila lulled him in her lap and soothed away the pain with her healing hands and Nekko finally joined Minna peacefully. Maila said she now had two angels in heaven.

Soon after this Maila left us through breast cancer. Our loss, heaven´s gain. I am sure she had a real crowd to welcome her back home.

The pink glove dance for breast cancer awareness. Enojy! :)

What if you also tried to find a little time to help those who are left alone? Old people, disabled, people forgotten in institutions... So many people with tired eyes, not believing in goodness and friendship anymore.

You might ask charity organizations about this kind of voluntary work - and for your own part bring good old fashioned caring back into this world.

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