January 24, 2003 - "Dad's Belt
Welcome to 2TheHeart!
"Whatever wounds and breaks the family, wounds and breaks the world. Whatever lifts and saves the family lifts and saves the world." -- lyrics from the album "Family: A Joyful Proclamation" by Marvin Payne and Steven Kapp Perry
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Many of us have survived intense trials during our lifetime. John's dad saved a symbolic remembrance of his own courage and strength and passed it on to his children, to remind them that they can overcome anything and find within themselves great strength when they need it. What a divine legacy John's dad gave him, and now John is sharing it with us!
"Dad's Belt"
by John Gaudet
Out of all the things my dad left me when he died, a piece of an old combine belt was the most valuable. It was the belt his father used to beat him with and it always hung over the door to the bathroom as a reminder of what things could have been.
My father grew up poor in the remote province of New Brunswick. He worked the coal mines from an early age and indeed his life a a child was filled with hard work and harsh discipline. The man he called his father was actually his step father but he wasn't told of this fact until after the brutal man died. His daily routine of work and turmoil was only broken by visits from his uncle buck from Winnipeg. Buck was a large bear of a man who would come twice a year like clockwork to visit his sister and her kids. My dad said he was the kindest man he ever met and I guess it was his influence on my father that helped him break the cycle of abuse in his own home as he grew older .
We couldn't have asked for a kinder more gentle man than my dad and we all trusted and loved him deeply. When he would talk of his childhood and the beatings he received his eye's would slowly slide over to the belt hanging there and his whole demeanor would change. The power of those beatings must have been terrible and I would always go to bed with a heavy heart thinking of the childhood robbed from this gentle and loving man. He taught us that no matter what people said or did to us we would always be welcome home any time, and we knew that we could always count on a smile and a gentle word of advice to soothe us when we got there.
Time continued her dance, we all grew up and moved out but we still continued to seek advice and love from our father till one day we were informed that he had died. It hit us all hard and as we met on the old farm tears flowed freely for this man who had everything taken from him as a child but managed to find something beautiful for his own children to hang on to everyday.
The lawyers came in the days after and the last wishes were stated and passed on. The estate was meager but we all received one gift beyond value or words.
In his last days he had taken the belt down from the wall and cut it into four pieces. We all received a piece of the belt that had hurt our father so terribly. That night we sat around crying discussing what he could have been thinking when he did this. As the night wore on it began to dawn on us what he really wanted.
The belt symbolized everything he taught us not to be.
It was his trophy. He had lived through the abuse. Instead of abandoning his life like so many others had, he embraced it and in doing so he turned a legacy of hate and hut to a life of love and happiness.
I keep that belt on my wall. We all do. It hangs as a reminder of the obstacles we can all overcome with grace and when my daughter is crying because she lost her pokeman cards or skinned her knee, I look at it, hold her tight and think of a man she will never know. A man I was and am proud to call my dad.
John Gaudet copyright 2002
drmrjohn@sasktel.net
John lives in northern Saskatchewan with his wife Chantalle and eight-year old daughter Charisa. He is a freelance/Technical writer and electronic repair technition. John tries to write all in all genres and samples of his latest published work can be seen in The "Chicken soup for the soul", Whispers from heaven" and "Lost Treasure" Magazines. Find his story "The Eraser" in our archives.
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The Letter Box:
Dear Corina,
You story was genuinely poetic! I shared with you your feelings as I walked through the beautiful mountains with you. Thank you for sharing your gift of writing and your wonderful story! God bless, Geena
Dear Cori,
What a blessing your story was to me! I was raised in the mountains of Virginia and have since moved a thousand miles away. I was carried back and so touched by your stirring story. Thank you! Love, Cleo W.
Sooz,
You know your story (Silent Faith) not only brought a tear to my eye, but slowed my thoughts down. You know how life can get so hectic and busy and crazy and stuff, and you know you should take more time to think of God, and be grateful, and pray and be in communion with him - but you don't?
Well, your story just made me feel that warm, flowing love and openess to God....that peace and serenity and all those close-to-God things. How beautifully written that was.
Where I work, we run all the Special Education programs for our region, including programs for the deaf and hearing impaired. I sent your story on to two of our Special Ed administrators and asked them to share it with whomever they thought might enjoy it.
You are just filling this world full of blessings with your writing, you know that? Love, Anne Goodrich
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