A Pocket full of Treasure

         As a youngster I always loved a good treasure hunt. My friends and I would invent a map and then look for an "X" marked the spot. In those days a treasure could just as well be a bag of marbles as a treasure chest with gold coins. We were not picky. The search was a lot more exciting than actually finding anything.

         As a young thirty year old man I headed out on my hospital rounds. I had an ongoing cold, felt lousy, and could not sleep. While walking around near the emergency room I received a call paging me into the emergency room. I had worked at the hospital as a chaplain for a couple years. I was in a mind-set of determining to prepare for anything. A few weeks ago a whole thirty to forty people had flooded into a small waiting room, because their nephew had been shot. I headed for the nurse's station to be filled in on what I was being called about.

         "There is a young man who was brought in not too long ago with his family. He died from a heart attack, and his family requested to see a chaplain before they viewed the body. "

         I greeted four family members. I A young middle aged man is the lead spokesman.

Jerry was a little bit off. He went to Vietnam and was not the same after. He was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and never was the same after he got back to the states. He tends to just wander around. He does mow lawns to make money on the side. He was mowing the grass when he collapsed and had a heart attack.

         One of the nurses comes into the room:

"Here are some things we found in his pockets."
The others are shaking their heads.

"He was always picking stuff off the street and putting it in his pockets. You never knew what he was going to find next."

"It sounds like he was looking for treasure."
         I was called a few days later to do the funeral. I had suggested making it personal. At the funeral the family took turns sharing a Jerry story. It was very touching scene. Several of the twenty to thirty people were in tears.
At the very end John, the elder spokesman came over to me.
"Jerry would want you to have this it was found among all the junk he had in his pockets."

I was handed an envelope with over one hundred dollars. Now I was the one touched to tears.

         Never make the mistake of not seeing value in others. At first I thought he was a victim of war. Now I see he was more importantly a member of a family. All of us are looking for treasure. When we least expect it, the person we thought was a bit off and a junk collector may have in their pockets the greatest treasure of them all.
This family found it out! I am very sure they wanted nothing more than for me to tell this story.