A Father's Promise

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A Father's Promise

I'll Always be There for You!

It's a fascinating story that comes out of the 1989
earthquake which almost flattened Armenia. This deadly
tremor killed over 30,000 people in less than four
minutes. In the midst of all the confusion of the
earthquake, a father rushed to his son's school. When
he arrived there he discovered the building was flat
as a pancake.

Standing there looking at what was left of the school,
the father remembered a promise he made to his son, "No
matter what, I'll always be there for you!" Tears began
to fill his eyes. It looked like a hopeless situation,
but he could not take his mind off his promise.

Remembering that his son's classroom was in the back
right corner of the building, the father rushed there
and started digging through the rubble. As he was
digging other grieving parents arrived, clutching
their hearts, saying: "My son! "My daughter!" They
tried to pull him off of what was left of the school
saying: "It's too late!" "They're dead!" "You can't
help!" "Go home!" Even a police officer and a fire
fighter told him he should go home. To everyone who
tried to stop him he said, "Are you going to help me
now?" They did not answer him and he continued digging
for his son stone by stone.

He needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is
he dead?" This man dug for eight hours and then twelve
and then twenty-four and then thirty-six. Finally in
the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder,
he heard his son's voice. He screamed his son's name,
"ARMAND!" and a voice answered him, "Dad?" It's me
Dad!" Then the boy added these priceless words, "I
told the other kids not to worry. I told 'em that if
you were alive, you'd save me and when you saved me,
they'd be saved. You promised that, Dad. 'No matter
what,' you said, 'I'll always be there for you!' And
here you are Dad. You kept your promise!"

Source: Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, "Chicken
Soup for the Soul." Cited on Holistic Living