We were at an orphanage the other night. The opening activity was to draw a picture of what you want to be when you grow up and the rest of the group could guess it. Of course, there was the nurse, teacher, librarian, life guard (mine), and then we got to an ocean scene that no one could guess. After we tried sailor, skipper, and the usual suspects, we gave up. The young artist, a girl of 16, said, “Nope, you’re all wrong. A pirate!”
Some laughed and said, “Wow, that’s an interesting choice.” Another said, “You don’t mean a real pirate, though, right?” She replied, “Yeah. My mom died and my dad is a pirate in the Caribbean.” Everyone suddenly realized she was serious and she must have noticed, so then she kind of back-peddled, “Well, he’s really a fisherman.” But, given the more specific location she told us and the fact that she’s now in an orphanage, it might not be so far from the truth!
Here we were, looking at the real life consequences of a man who had made some sad choices and now, without a wife, his children were most likely in various institutions across the country. Helping my young friend cope with life only puts a superficial band-aid on the cancer that is growing in our world as moms and dads turn away from Truth, looking at themselves as the judge of all that is good. It put a whole new perspective to the glamor with which we typically look upon the pirates of the Caribbean.
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