A Son’s Faith in His Father…….

In the country of Armenia, in 1986, Sami and Daisy sent their young son, Arnold, off to school. Sami squatted before his son and looked him in the eye. ‘Have a good day at school and remember, no matter what, I’ll always be there for you.’ They hugged each other and the boy ran off to school.

Hours later, a powerful earthquake rocked the area. In the midst of the pandemonium, Sami and Daisy tried to discover what happened to their son but they could not get any information. The radio announced that there were thousands of casualties. Sami then grabbed his coat and headed for the schoolyard.   When he reached the area, what he saw brought tears to his eyes. Arnold’s school was a pile of debris. Other parents were standing around crying. Sami found the place where Arnold’s classroom used to be and began pulling a broken beam off the pile of rubble. He then grabbed a rock and put it towards his toe side, and then grabbed another one.

One of the parents looking on asked, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Digging for my son.’ Sami answered. The man then said, ‘You’re just going to make things worse! The building is unstable,’ and tried to pull Sami away from his work. Sami set his jaw and kept working. As time wore on, one by one, the other parents left. Then a fire-fighter tried to pull Sami away from the rubble. Sami looked at him and said, ‘Won’t you help me?’ The fire-fighter left and he was not one bit bothered but simply kept on digging.  He had an intuition that he could bring his son alive from all this rubble.

All through the night and into the next day, Sami continued digging. Parents placed flowers and pictures of their children on the ruins. But, Sami just kept working. He picked up a beam and pushed it out of the way when he heard a faint cry. ‘Help! Help! Sami listened but did not hear anything again. Then he heard a muffled voice, “Papa?” Sami began to dig furiously. Finally, he could see his son. ‘Come on out, son!’ he said with relief. ‘No,’ Arnold said. ‘Let the other kids come out first because I know you’ll get me.’ Child after child emerged until, finally, little Arnold appeared. Sami took him in his arms and in between kissing and hugging him, Arnold said, ‘I told the other kids not to worry because you told me that you would always be there for me.!’

Eighteen children were saved that day because one father was faithful to his words and had kept his promise. Friends, whether trapped by fallen debris or ensnared by life’s hardships and struggles, we are never cut off from our Source. Faith and Trust are our connection to the Source. It’s a privilege being a parent. Enjoy each moment of it. Do your Best and always be Happy and Responsible being a Parent.