Visit from an Angel

On Monday, I was working at the clinic where I am interning at Gongguan (公館), filling herb prescriptions from behind the front counter. A man comes in with his seven year-old daughter. He is holding her hands and she is slowly walking. There are braces on her legs. The doctor asks some other interns to help her walk. As I weigh the herbs and place them on the square pieces of paper on the counter, I watch.

I can't help but notice her face. It is radiant. There is something otherworldly about it. She has a big smile and her eyes are beaming. She takes her steps slowly, exactly as a nine-month old toddler would. With each step, her smile widens and she looks up and to the side, as if she is looking at the other world.

Someone tells me that Doctor Lee wants me to approach him. I walk over to his desk and he hands me a textbook he has written on treating neurological disorders. He says to me in Chinese, "chapter 14". Luckily for me, the book includes an English translation by his former student (and my friend) Daniel, who is now back in the States teaching.

The title of the chapter is "Brain Injury Due to Asphyxiation by Carbon Monoxide". I skim through it, hand it back to the doctor, and then spend some time with this angelic little girl. It is a gift to be in her presence. When I see her walk, I see wonder. I see joy. Who knows what is going on inside of her head?

Her father, in his late 40s, is there encouraging her and asking her questions. He asks her if she can walk, and she says, in Chinese, "can." I wonder how he has changed as a person since his daughter came into his life. What did he feel after her injury? What kind of effort has his daughter's condition required of him and his family?

I think about how life is filled with intense wonder and terrible, terrible pain, and how resilient we are, and how, somehow, we get through it all and are able to experience incredible beauty.