The Old Man

Choose Kindness

The old man sat hunched over in his rickety porch swing, looking as if he was lost in his own thoughts. His wrinkled face and tired eyes forever had a sense of lingering sadness accompanied by a lifetime of regret. You see, the old man was not always lonely- he had a loving wife and three beautiful children whom he loved dearly. The old man and his wife were high school sweethearts who expected to live a fruitful life... perhaps if life would have gone as they had planned, she would be sitting on the porch swing by his side and maybe the sadness in his aged face would be nonexistent.

Life cannot be planned.

The old man's bride fell ill with cancer. He was angry and instead of turning to his wife for solace, he took comfort in the bottle. His wife kept getting worse and worse... she was slipping away from him. She needed him, his children needed him, but it was all too much- the pain of watching her crumble. The old man wanted to remember her as the vibrant, strong woman that could overcome anything... but he didn't realize he was abandoning her when she needed him the most.

The old man spent all his days working to financially support his family, but failed to emotionally support them. His nights, well they were soaked in alcohol and hatred.

It had been years since his wife had passed and the old man's heart ached like it had been yesterday. His children grew up without a mother and suffered with a barely functional father who threw alcoholic fits just about every night. The children practically raised themselves and resented their father, often wondering what life would be like if their mother was still alive.

The old man carefully swayed on his porch swing, reminiscing on all his mistakes... constantly wondering what life would be like if his children were still in his life. He slowly stood up and grabbed his cane that was resting against the chipped wood of his feeble home. The old man hobbled to his screen door, but was surprised to hear approaching tires on the gravel.

He heard several familiar voices get out of the car and assumed that the owners of those voices were now standing in front of him.

"Dad, we're all here," his daughter said while placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. The old man's blind eyes filled with tears and he dropped his cane to put both arms around his daughter.

The old man was dying of cancer just like his wife had so many years earlier. He had mistreated his family and believed that he deserved to die alone. The old man's children did not abandon their father in his time of need like he did so to their mother.

"When given the choice between being right, or being kind, choose kind."