The Circus Tickets...
Once, when I was a teenager, my
father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally,
there was only one family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a
big impression on me.
There were eight children, all
probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money.
Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were
well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents,
holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, elephants, and
other acts they would see that night. One could sense they had never been to
the circus before. It promised to be a highlight of their young lives.
The father and mother were at the head
of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's
hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in shining
armor." He was smiling and basking in pride, looking back at her as if to
reply, "You got that right."
The ticket lady asked the father how
many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, "Please let me buy eight
children's tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the
circus." The ticket lady quoted the price.
The man's wife let go of his hand,
her head dropped, his lip began to quiver. The father leaned a little closer
and asked, "How much did you say?" The ticket lady again quoted the
price. The man didn't have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell
his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?
Seeing what was going on, my dad put
his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground. (We
were not wealthy in any sense of the word!)
My father reached down, picked up the
bill, tapped the man on the shoulder, and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket." The man knew what was
going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in
a desperate, heart-breaking, embarrassing situtation.
The man looked straight into my dad's
eyes, took my dad's hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill,
and with his lip quivering and a tear running down his cheek, he replied,
"Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."
My father and I went back to our car
and drove home. We didn't go to the circus that night, but we didn't go
without.