Today's Beautiful Gem: "They Came to Stay" by Marjorie Margolies.

         The Earth is full of opposites. Where the popultion density is high,
the quality of life is low. There are places filled with children to be
hugged and loved. There are homes where people long for the hug of a child
and the tinkle of its laughter. If only we can match these needs magically,
many children will have a bright future perhaps. Again, I was afflicted by
the Indian bugs on my recent trip and had to spend considerable time in bed.
During this time, I had the opportunity of reading the book "They Came to
Stay" by Marjorie Margolies, a former NBC reporter. As a single unmarried
woman, besides handling her duties as a reporter, she had the courage to adopt
two girls, Lee Heh from Korea and Holly from Vietnam, after personally
visiting those countries. At the conclusion of Lee Heh's official adoption,
she presented the following poem to the child:

"Not flesh of my flesh,
        Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
        My own.
Never forget
        For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart
        But in it."

After some years, Lee Heh presented Marjorie a page labelled "Mom":

"Look at the wind making the flowers wave,
Look at the sea filled with so many waves and gulls.
Look at the eyes of the crying children
         turning redder and redder each second I look.
Look at the eyes of myself which has filled with salted water.
That's how much I care for you,
         that's how much I adore
         and hold dearly in my heart for you."

Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky taught us: Do not grieve if you cannot conceive.
Receive, receive the little ones who hunger for love in your home and in
your heart!

Om shaantiH Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao.

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