Encouragement

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It’s A Miracle!
©
by

Stephen A. Peterson


On the afternoon of October 9, 2004, Jenny Coleman, 16, received a called from a teenage girl while manning the telephones at the Pottawatomie County Teen hotline.

“I’m so depressed. My parents don’t love me. The boy who I loved so much told me he did not want to see me anymore. I think a lot of these things have happened since the car accident. I’m in a wheelchair now. I’m paralyzed from the waist down. My parents are having a real difficult time dealing with my accident and my condition. They’re also having a difficult time getting me a descent working wheelchair. The wheelchair that I have right now is broken and falling apart. Nothing is going right for me,” the young teenage girl said through her tears. “I’m thinking about killing myself. It seems to be the only way out of this!”

Jenny, three other high school age teenage volunteers and their adult mentors were so touched by the young teen’s plight that they took up a collection among themselves, organized and put on a fund raising drive throughout the county to purchase a new mobile wheelchair for a fellow teen. Without fanfare or interest from news outlets, Jenny and her teen and adult associates presented the young girl with her new wheelchair. Seeing that she would also have a difficult time getting out and into the home, the teen cleared and cleaned up the property where the older house was located then added a ramp so she could leave and come home without having to rely on others to help her.

Several days later, smiling broadly, they watched as the grateful teenager wheeled her new chair around her bedroom and house. Not having a great deal of resources or money, she made her new found friends a pitcher of home made lemonade and baked cookies for everyone.

Now I call this happening a miracle! I came to understand that a miracle doesn’t have to be a grand, spectacular event. It can be something very; very small, very loving and very simple, such as helping a hurting and desperate teenage girl deal with a problem of hers.

Too often American society criticizes its teenage citizens citing the wrong they do. Yet more than 90% of teens do not display adverse behavioral problems. Most are well-adjusted persons doing great things in their communities. Let us be less critical, more loving and forgiving of their attempts to grow up and be full participants in our world today.

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