Thursday, May 19, 2011

Empathy

Our family was out and about one afternoon this summer and a fire truck went zooming past. Since AJ and Maddie are huge fans of fire trucks we decided to follow. As we got close to the ocean, out of my passenger side window I spotted a HUGE column of black smoke. We decided to be lookie loos and see what was going on.

We pulled up at a house build on the beach and it was fully engulfed in flames. We watched the fire fighters do their job bravely and try to put out the flames. The houses next door eventually started to burn as well, and the middle one came crashing to the ground. These houses are HUGE.. more or less mini mansions on the beach.

It started to get crowded there on the street so we made our way to the beach side of the house. It was obvious who the family members were that lived in the house. They had a small pile of belongings in the sand in front of them and they were huddled together just watching. Not sad, not angry, just watching. John explained to Madeline that that's the family whose home was burned by the fire, and that all of their things are gone.

She asked John if the family could stay with us since they didn't have a place to sleep, and asked a few more questions. Then, totally unprompted, my 3 1/2 year old little girl walked shyly up to the family with John's hand in hers and said "I'm sorry about your home."

Sometimes she just makes me so darn proud.

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