Love in the milk can
Two little brothers dressed in rags, from the suburbs, one five years old and the other ten, were asking for a little food from the houses on the street that surrounds the hill. They were hungry and when they begged in the houses, they heard phrases behind the door like “go to work and don’t bother them”, or “there’s nothing here, beggar…” The many frustrated attempts made the children sad…
Finally, a very attentive lady told them: “I’m going to see if I have something for you…Poor things!”
And he came back with a can of milk.
What party! They sat on the sidewalk. The smallest said to the ten-year-old: “you are the oldest, he takes first… and he looked at him with his white teeth, with his mouth half open, licking his lips.”
I contemplated the scene like a fool… If they saw the older one looking askance at the little one…!
He takes the can to his mouth and pretending to drink, he pressed his lips tightly so that not a single drop of milk would enter him.
Then, holding out the can, he would say to the brother: “Now it’s your turn. Just a little bit.”
And the little brother, taking a drink, exclaimed: “It’s tasty!”
“Now me,” says the older one. And taking his can, already half empty, to her mouth, she drank nothing.
“Now you”, “Now me”, “Now you”, “Now me”…
And, after three, four, five or six drinks, the youngest, with wavy hair, potbellied, with his shirt untucked, all the milk ran out… all by himself.
Those “now you”, “now me” filled my eyes with tears… And then, something happened that seemed extraordinary to me.
The eldest began to sing, dance, and play soccer with the empty milk can. He was radiant, his stomach empty, but his heart overflowing with joy.
He jumped with the naturalness of someone who does nothing extraordinary, or even better, with the naturalness of someone who is used to doing extraordinary things without giving them the greatest importance.
We can learn a great lesson from that boy: “Whoever gives is happier than whoever receives.”
This is how we should love. Sacrificing ourselves so naturally, with such elegance, with such discretion, that others cannot even thank us for the service we provide them.”
How could you find a little of this “happiness” today and make someone’s life better, with more “joy to be lived”?
¡Go ahead, wake up, and do whatever is needed!
Close to us there may be a friend who needs our shoulder, our comfort and, perhaps even more, a bit of our peace…
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