Monday, March 25, 2013

Dear, sweet Emilie…..

I've been wavering for quite a while about reprinting this letter.

It's so simple, yet it probes so deeply into the human psyche, it reveals so much about who we really are, it excites an emotion that many of us can't deny, it asks a question that may be all too answerable for some of us, and beyond understanding for others…
If you're ready, I invite you to reach your own judgment.

Here's the letter, forwarded by a quiet philosopher who works in the principal's office of  Woontin Elementary School in Bartonsburg, Ohio. The children at the school had organized a luncheon for elderly folks who lived nearby. One of the octogenarian guests won a small radio as a door prize, and she wrote this thank-you letter:

Dear Woontin Elementary School,

God bless you for the beautiful radio I won at your recent senior citizens luncheon. I am 84 years old and I live here at the Springerly Home for the Aged. All of my family have passed away. I am all alone now and it's nice to know that someone is thinking of me. Bless you for your kindness to an old forgotten lady. My roommate is 95, and she's a bit cranky. We've shared a room for 11 years, although I've tried a couple times to switch to another floor. She has always had her own radio, but she would never let me listen to hers, even when she was napping. Yesterday her radio fell off her night stand and broke into a lot of pieces. It was awful and she was in tears. Her distress about the broken radio touched me, and I knew immediately what I could do. She asked if she could listen to mine, and I told her to kiss my ass.

To all of you wonderful children, thank you again for my radio.

Sincerely,
Emilie Louise Bartrum





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