The true sight

Author Unknown

The Park bench was deserted as the lady sat down. She was disillusioned with life. “The world is intent on dragging me down,” she thought.

If that weren't enough to ruin her day, a young boy approached her. He was breathless, all tired from play.

He stood right before her with his head tilted down and said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"

There was a flower in his hand, with its petals all worn out. It was a dead flower. Wanting him to take his dead flower and go off to play, she faked a small smile and then pretended to look away.

But instead of retreating he sat next to her side and placed the flower to his nose and declared with overacted surprise, "It sure smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it; here, it's for you."

She knew she must take it, or he might never leave. So she reached for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need."

But instead of him placing the flower in her hand, he held it mid-air.

It was then that she noticed for the very first time that weed-toting boy could not see: he was blind.

Her voice quivered; tears rolled down as she thanked him for picking the very best one.

"You're welcome," he smiled, and then ran off to play, unaware of the impact he'd had on her day.

She sat there and wondered how he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. “How did he know of my self-indulged plight? Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight,” she wondered.

Through the eyes of a blind child, at last she could see that the problem was not with the world; the problem was with her. And for all of those times she herself had been blind.

She vowed to see the beauty in life, and appreciate every second that's hers. And then she held that wilted flower up to her nose and breathed in the fragrance of a beautiful rose.

She smiled as she watched that young boy, with another weed in his hand, about to change the life of an unsuspecting old man.