The Prodigal Son's Return

In the words of the apostle Luke is the story of the prodigal son's departure and return: the story is of a young man who asked for, and received, his inheritance early, used it to travel to a distant land, and there lived in freedom and personal indulgence, squandering his wealth, thereby being forced to hire himself out for menial work (he took care of pigs and envied their meals), before deciding to return to the home of his father. When the father saw the wayward son, he welcomed him, clothing him and feeding him and celebrating his return. The father's other son was angry at this, saying, I have been with you, obeyed you, and you have not had a feast for me. The father reminds the hardworking, loyal, and angry son that he is always with the father and everything the father has is the loyal son's, and the father says of the returning man, My son had died and now he is alive again, he was lost and now he is found, he was gone and now he has returned...

...The one who leaves lives a life that is his own, but the ones left behind as well have their own lives; and not all of them forget or forgive, seeing cruelty and neglect in being left for so long...

It does not really matter why you're cruel to, or neglectful of, someone: the fact of cruelty is damning enough...We all need people who forget the world for us at one time or another--especially when we are young; especially in a time of need. That is a lesson that can be harder for some to learn than for others (it is a lesson that can be hard for those who are ambitious, idealistic, and practical, to self-conscious degrees, to extreme degrees; people who may have the most trouble being attuned to the personal vulnerability and need of others). Freedom may be the greatest battle cry, the greatest affirmation of the human spirit. People try, often, too often, to impose their want and will on us, but few persons trust us with a genuine need. Do we recognize genuine need? Do we respond? I can think of a few times--important times--when I did not hear what was being said to me: the passage of time revealed to me what I had missed. We can be busy with a whole lot of things that do not matter and miss the genuine need, the urgent call...

...I was angry when I was young for having to be alone in quite the way I was...and I have been told that there are a couple of younger people who have been angry with me for leaving them too alone, after I left Louisiana for New York...I have not talked about this with them yet, now that I am back in Louisiana...