White rose

On the last day before Christmas,

I hurried to go to the supermarket

to buy the remaining of the gift I didn't

manage to buy earlier.

When I saw all the people there,

I started to complain to myself:

"It is going to take forever here and I still have

so many other places to go...

Christmas really is getting more and

more annoying every year?

How I wish I could just lie down,

go to sleep and only wakeup after it..."

Nonetheless, I made my way to the toy section,

and there started to curse the prices,

wondering if after all,

kids really play with such expensive toys.

While looking in the toy section,

I noticed a small boy of about 5 years old,

pressing a doll against his chest.

He kept on touching the hair of the doll and looked so sad.

I wondered who this doll was for?

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him:

'Granny, are you sure, I don't have enough money?'

The old lady replied:

'You know that you don't have enough money

to buy this doll, my dear.'

Then she asked him to stay there for 5 minutes

while she went to look around.

She left quickly. The little boy was still holding

the doll in his hand.

Finally, I started to walk towards him

and I asked him who he wanted to give this doll to.

'It is the doll that my sister loved most and wanted

so much for this Christmas.'

She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.

'I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus

will bring it to her after all, and not to worry.'

But he replied to me sadly...

'No, Santa Claus cannot bring it to her where she is now.

I have to give the doll to my mother so that

she can give it to her when she goes there.'

His eyes were so sad while saying this.

'My sister has gone to be with God.

Daddy says that Mummy will also

go to see God very soon, so I thought that she

could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.'

My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said:

'I told daddy to tell mummy not to go yet.

I asked him to wait until I came back from the supermarket.'

Then he showed me a very nice photo of him

where he was laughing.

He then told me: 'I also want mummy to take

this photo with her so that she will not forget me.

I love my mummy and I wish she didn't have to leave

me but daddy says that she has to go to be

with my little sister'.

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes,

very quietly..I quickly reached for my wallet,

took a few notes, and said to the boy.

'What if we checked again,

just in case if you have enough money?'

'Ok' he said. 'I hope that I have enough.'

I added some of my money to his without him

seeing and we started to count it.

There was enough for the doll,

and even some left over. The little boysaid:

'Thank you God for giving me enough money'

Then he looked at me and added:

'I asked yesterday before I went to sleep

for God to make sure I have enough money to buy this

doll so that mummy can give it to my sister.

He heard me. I also wanted to have enough money

to buy a white rose for my mummy,

but didn't dare to ask God too much.

But He gave me enough to buy the doll and

the white rose.'

'You know, my mummy loves white roses'

A few minutes later, the old lady came back again and

I left with my trolley.

I finished my shopping in a totally different state from

when I started.

I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local newspaper article 2 days ago,

which mentioned of a drunk man in a truck

who hit a car where there was one young lady and

a little girl.

The little girl died right away,

and the mother was left in a critical state.

The family had to decide whether to pull the

plug on the life-assisting machine,

because the young lady would not be

able to get out of the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy,

I read that the young lady had passed away.

I couldn't stop myself and went to buy a

bunch of white roses and I went to the

mortuary where the body

of the young woman was

exposed for

people to see and make last wish before burial.

She was there, in her coffin,

holding a beautiful white rose

in her hand with the photo of the little boy

and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place crying,

feeling that my life had been changed forever.

The love that this little boy had for his mother and

his sister is still, to this day hard to imagine.

And in a fraction of a second, a drunk man had

taken all this away from him.

Now you have 2 choices:

1) Send this message to everybody that you know.

2) Or delete it and act as if it never touched your heart.

If you send this message, maybe you will help

prevent someone drunk to go driving.