text: “I was here once”. By M.G.D He goes with regret , he goes with purpose, he the man who had nothing goes with humble thoughts, all three are going to the beyond For their time has come to answer the unwanted call. The first man answered during his prime, his life cut short by a tragic accident his newly formed family left behind. This man prospered and accrued great wealth in his shortened stay here. Yet he still wasn’t satisfied with what he had. He spent his free-time trying to better his equals,instead of spending time with the people that really mattered. His family barely had him around even when he was alive so his death brings sorrow but only for awhile. He leaves this world with regret and anger for he never heard his newborn daughter say her first words or watch her take her first steps. As well as the knowledge that his son will only know his father as a working man who had no time for him.He will watch from above as another man takes his place. The second answered In the eve of a unforeseen sickness but towards the end of a great and full life. This man was responsible for great things in his own city and was able to build several shelters and programs to help the homeless and other people struggling with depression and suicide. In his last few months Great pain followed the man much as his Iv drip did, but he never complained and always said that he’s proud that he carries this burden instead of another member of his family. In his final moments His loved ones clung to his arm while machines rattled and buzzed behind him. His children and grandchildren watched as their hero slowly faded. he leaves this world purpose driven to end his suffering and to once again come face to face with a special man that saved his life. The last man answered on a cold, frozen night. It wasn’t his time yet. He still had life left before him. This man was poor and homeless. He didn’t even have much of a coat on just a raggedy old thing that once resembled a jacket. Still he never took what wasn’t earned or given, never cursed the lords name, never even had an impure thought of another human being. This man wasn’t always this way,once he even walked along a road in Vietnam with some other kids from back home, he even went on to Korea where he led another group of able young men to great victories. 2 wars and the death of his young wife and child in labor caused this man to end up on the streets, but that’s not what led him to the beyond. The final man in this story isn’t a man at all just a young teen who lost his will to live. Bully’s and family violence cause this teen to lose his self esteem and fall into depression. This teen lost his father at a young age, but he didn’t have much of a father to begin with seeing as how he was a workaholic. Now he has to watch his younger sister being raised by an abusive step father.This kid didn’t have any friends or support when it mattered so he turned to drugs. As the drugs began to fill in the places in his heart that are now void, his thoughts turned to those of self harm and hate. So much hate. The kid went on a walk to a bridge near his home. As he stood on the ledge he heard a voice “I was here once,were you are now”. “I was a little older and more bitter but the same thoughts ran through my head”. The mysterious voice said “It was right after I got back from Korea” the teen now turned to face the stranger, whose tattered and ragged old jacket bears the words us army on it. The teen looks the homeless man in the eyes and can see the truth in his words The teen yells back, “go away old man what would you know about me” The homeless man responds, “I don’t know about you but I know about love and loss and second chances” The teen now crying yells back,” I have to do this I have to end it, it’s all just to much” The homeless man now pleads with him,”look here boy nothing is going to come out of you jumping off this bridge” trust me your not the first person to step up on that ledge and sadly you won’t be the last” his words echo in the deep dark void under the bridge. The teen cries out, “I have to do this I have to” the teen inches closer to the edge “Why do you even care” The old man replies, “I care because I love you” I love all of God’s children” “Even though we are strangers doesn’t mean we can’t love one another” “I’ve seen death and destruction of men by my own hands” he pauses briefly “and these same hands went on to hold my fiancées hands as she became my wife and then as she laid dying in a hospital bed holding our stillborn son” “I’ve seen both the good and the bad of this world” he says as he steps closer to the teen “I even had my own turn on that very same ledge your upon now” he softly says as he takes another few steps closer careful not to move to fast as not to force the teens hand “But right before I jumped I remembered my wife’s face and how she was now watching from above” I thought of my infant son who never had a chance on life because of uncontrollable fate” I thought of a moment like this where I could one day change someone’s mind and keep them from taking the leap” just as he said those last words he sprinted the last few feet towards the young teen, just as the teen lost his footing and slipped forward. The homeless man,realizing what has happened, makes a choice and leaps over the ledge just as the teen slips off. The homeless man manages to beat the teen over the edge and is able to push him back over to the road above. The teen is safe and the homeless man now falls into the deep canyon below. His final thoughts are of his family who he will be reunited with again. The teens sits there stunned that a perfect stranger just sacrificed his own life for him. He cry’s a deep sorrowful cry. His whole world was just changed by a man who had nothing but gave everything to see this teen gets to live another day. The teen won’t have to answer his unwanted call tonight nor any night that he spends on that bridge. He learned life’s hidden lessons. He will one day look up from his own death bed and see that homeless mans face once again. The teen is now grown and is laying in a hospital bed he as well as everyone else knows his time is near. The nurses remove his iv and his oxygen mask is taken off. His family weeps at his side as he lays there fading away. Just as his world begins to fade to black he hears a voice. “I’ve been here once,were you are now” says the homeless man but it sounded distance and was coming from above. He looks up to the heavens as his breath starts to slow and his heart stops to beat.he knows this voice, he knows those words he heard them before. He closes his eyes for the last time. He now stands on the edge of a glorious kingdom made of gold and clouds. He sees a familiar face in the distance walking towards him. He isn’t scared he isn’t in pain. He stands there content and patiently awaits the familiar stranger in the distance “I glad to see you made it here boy”,says the homeless man as he greets the now grown teen, “I’m glad you made it off that bridge”. He introduces the now grown teen to his wife and son. He takes the grown man under his arm and walks towards the gates. “I’m glad you made it off that bridge” the homeless man murmurs under his breath as he pats the grown man on his back.