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The most profound event that has happened to me, which truly changed my outlook on life, was what happened to my uncle about three years ago. While he was standing at a bus stop downtown, he had an aneurysm and passed out. The other people at the bus stop called an ambulance and he was rushed to the hospital. He barely survived, and it was only because of how quickly he got to the hospital.
When I first visited him in the hospital, he looked very sick, he could barely speak, and he could barely recognize me. It seemed like he would never be the way he was. I visited him every month after that and each time he was a lot better than the last. Besides the muscle atrophy from lying in bed so long, he had almost completely recovered by last Christmas.
My family and I visited him the weekend before Christmas and he took us to the hospital�s chapel in which a service is held every week during Advent. My uncle said the first reading and the priest let him speak during the homily. I witnessed an even bigger surprise than my uncle surviving and recovering because he had completely changed. I had never seen him cry before, but he did while he was speaking. He explained that when he learned of the other people at the bus stop saving him it was the first time he had realized that God was working in his life. He had always been a religious person, but he had never been as happy as he was then.
This experience taught me a lot. I realized that too many people don�t notice that God is in their lives until something bad happens that wakes them up to reality. I understand that life is tough and that it isn�t easy to find God right in front of you unless you know where to look. Sometimes people think that tragedy is God�s way of showing himself to us, but there is no way that God would want you to think that He is someone that brings bad fortune. God is best seen in kind, generous people who help others�like the people at the bus stop. In a world where death and poverty are commonplace, these people prove that God is always with us no matter what. |
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One of the most meaningful moral stories to me is �The Boy Who Cried Wolf.� It is about a boy who has fun by pretending that he is being attacked by a wolf. He calls for help and the people of his village come out to help him, but every time it turns out to be a joke. One day a wolf really attacks him and when he calls for help, no one comes because they think it is a joke and he is killed by the wolf. The lesson here seems obvious enough, but it shouldn�t be oversimplified. This story shows the true importance of faith. The villagers trusted the boy and believed that he was really in danger so they came to help. But, when the boy repeatedly tricks them he damages the faith that they had in him. I think that this same scenario is constantly occurring in real life. Many people, including myself, cry �wolf� and ask for God�s help when we really don�t need it. It is not a matter of dishonesty here, just overstatement. I feel that this sort of attitude is pretty selfish. God is actually willing to keep coming back to us and help with our small problems, even when they turn out to be insignificant, because of how much He loves every one of us. If we would stop our �game� of pretending to be attacked by a wolf, God could focus his help on the truly less fortunate�the least among us. |
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