Survival of the fittest? Let's look again...

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A man organizing a missionary trip to Africa was stopped one day by a member of the church he was with, asking if she could accompany him on the trip along with some of the other people in the church. This young woman had cerebral palsy. The man hesitated and told her that he didn't know if that was a good idea because it was going to be hard for her to have the endurance to get around (what with her handicap). She patiently told him "I ran a 5K marathon last summer. Have you ever done that?" The man was taken aback, but thought of another reason she might not aught to come. He said they would have a hard time understanding what she said (if you are not familiar with CP, it can be hard to understand what that person may be saying). The woman replied, "They don't speak Enlgish. They won't be able to understand you either!" The man couldn't argue with that, so he along with her and a few others set off for the thick jungle of Africa. Of course to get to the remote party of Africa they were trying to get to was extremely secluded. A little plane would fly three people to the village at a time. When the first three people got off the plane all the people who came to meet them from the village applauded. When the plane came back with three more people, the villagers applauded. When the plane came back with the young lady with cerebreal palsy, there was silence. No one said or did anything. Do you know why? Because they had never seen a handicapped person. In that part of Africa just like many other parts, if a child is born with any kind of handicap they are left to die in the jungle by any number of means. The orphanage the missionaries built there tries to get people who have babies with "abnormalities" to bring them to the orphanage and let them have the baby. But parents don't normally do that. So the people on the mission completed that trip, the woman with CP interacted with people just as the others. And they went home. Six months later the man who had planned the trip to Africa got a phone call from the orphanage their church had built there. The person on the phone wanted to share some good news. A baby in the village had been born with a club foot. And instead of leaving the child in the jungle to die like the elders told her to, she brought her baby to the local doctor and said, please tell me how to treat this baby, because I want to keep her. She is going to keep that little baby and raise that baby along with her other children, with love. She wanted the baby. The doctor asked what made her decide to keep the baby. The young mother told the doctor about the woman who had visited a while ago (meaning the young lady with CP). She said she had seen what children could grow up to be despite disabilities, and she knew her baby would be okay too. That woman with cerebral palsy made a difference by just being her. Just by existing she made a difference in more than one life. Did you know you can do that too? No matter what physical or emotional handicap. Sorry this is so long. I know people hate reading long posts. But I hope you enjoyed hearing this true story. It was told by a man from that church at my own church this past Sunday morning. And I wanted to share.