A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in
Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.
"Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like
to bring home with me.
"Sure," they replied, "we’d love to meet him."
"There’s something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt
pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has
nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."
"I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."
"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."
"Son," said the father, "you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with
such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we
can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home
and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own."
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A
few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had
died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.
The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to
identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also
discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.
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