The Human Spirit

Deb: I had a good juicy rant about rudeness all prepped for today’s blog … and then something happened to me. I was all at once enveloped in the human spirit at its best. I participated in a walk that I have done for a few years now called Meagan’s Walk, which ends with the world’s largest hug as we gather around Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto and hug it. Families and sick kids stare out the windows to watch and let the big hug of love wash over them.

Each year, I am moved beyond words. I walk in gratitude for my healthy child, but there are too many walking for the memory of their lost babies, and others walking with hope for their children who are fighting for their lives. Mother’s Day was the ninth annual walk, but this one had extra poignancy as it was the tenth anniversary of wee Meagan’s passing.

It always moves me to see the ambulance driver who took Meagan to the hospital that one last time. He shows up for the walk every single year, smiling and handing out candy from his ambulance. And then there’s Meagan’s mom, Denise, pushing through her grief to help and comfort others with her huge can-do spirit.   

Human beings at their best kill me. Their capacity for compassion and empathy is bigger than air. And when we are lucky enough to witness it or be a part of it, we are filled to bursting. I was giving Swarovski crystal butterflies to the mom’s of the kids in the hospital, and one lovely young mom told me that her child was losing his eight-year battle and would die that day at ten years of age. Mother’s Day. With tears streaming down our faces, we stood there hugging and weeping. Two strangers bonded by humanness. God bless her and God rest his little soul.