Inspiring Story: Love & Acceptance

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 got 

a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring with me.” 

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.” “There’s 

something you should know,” the son continued, “he 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 a 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.

Lesson from the Inspiring Story:

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy 

to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, 

but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make 

us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from 

people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. 

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. 

Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that 

welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of 

how messed up we are.

Author Unknown