Don't Wait To Make Amends

A friend just told me a very sad tale. She told me how her father had been absent all her young life and it made her very sad. Then when she was about eleven, he came around and wanted to establish a relationship with her but she was angry and told him, "no" and "I hate you." He told her that some day she would change her mind and would want to but it would be too late.

Move forward until she is about twenty-one years old. Her husband dies unexpectedly and now she has a four year old and an infant to care for on her own. Her country is being ravaged by war. There was little food to be had. There was danger all around. She was desparate and needed help and thought about her father and how he wanted to be there for her.

She went to the place where she knew he worked and waited in the boss's office for him to get off work. She waited for several hours and finally a man came along and asked her if she was waiting for someone and she said yes. He asked who and she told him her father's name. And then he told her that only three days before, her father had put a gun to his temple and shot himself.

She was devastated. All she could think about was how he told her it would be too late.

After a while, someone told her that it was not the end. The sun would rise and it would be a new beginning. And it was. But there were still tears welling up in her eyes while she told me this story.