Whiteout
02-10-2009, 08:49 PM
Link: TRACTOR PARADE 8D (http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/564730)
If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, this should be all you need:*** Just before 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, nine-year-old Jacob Vanderlaan died of cancer at his Mercer Settlement Road home surrounded by his family. Just the day before, members of the farming community gathered to give Jake his own personal parade of tractors and other farming equipment he loved so much. ***
So much so that the nine-year-old, who is dying of cancer, told the Children's Wish Foundation he wanted to visit the John Deere factory in Moline, Ill. to see the tractors and other farm implements there.
But the boy everyone knows as 'Jake' is too ill to travel, so the tractors came to him Friday as the extended family that is the farming community around Sussex organized a parade past the boy's home as he lay on a folded-down seat at the living room window.
Hah, when I read the Children's Wish Foundation part, I thought it was like 'any other news story' and was thiis close to closing the window. But I read on (as my attention span seems to decrease every day, I only managed to read what I quoted).
It made me happy.
Then I read some of the comments about it, talking about how the picture was what 'did people in'. So I clicked on it, and thought to myself how it wasn't that special..
AND THEN I SAW THE FRICKEN' BALLOONS.
It made me cry.
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I don't know if this will spark discussion of any sort..
If it doesn't, you can just post about anything in particular that you found really touching(?).
If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, this should be all you need:*** Just before 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, nine-year-old Jacob Vanderlaan died of cancer at his Mercer Settlement Road home surrounded by his family. Just the day before, members of the farming community gathered to give Jake his own personal parade of tractors and other farming equipment he loved so much. ***
So much so that the nine-year-old, who is dying of cancer, told the Children's Wish Foundation he wanted to visit the John Deere factory in Moline, Ill. to see the tractors and other farm implements there.
But the boy everyone knows as 'Jake' is too ill to travel, so the tractors came to him Friday as the extended family that is the farming community around Sussex organized a parade past the boy's home as he lay on a folded-down seat at the living room window.
Hah, when I read the Children's Wish Foundation part, I thought it was like 'any other news story' and was thiis close to closing the window. But I read on (as my attention span seems to decrease every day, I only managed to read what I quoted).
It made me happy.
Then I read some of the comments about it, talking about how the picture was what 'did people in'. So I clicked on it, and thought to myself how it wasn't that special..
AND THEN I SAW THE FRICKEN' BALLOONS.
It made me cry.
------------------------------------
I don't know if this will spark discussion of any sort..
If it doesn't, you can just post about anything in particular that you found really touching(?).