Year after year we see more and more musical artists surfacing with their lyrics about their street lives and their drug sales, but not one of them has been through what this man has been through. I have met very few people that have managed to change my entire philosophy on life, but this man was one. This man, Harold, is the only person who could ever survive for sixty-seven years in a hell he called his life, and still hold his head high everyday with honesty and integrity.
Harold’s rough life began when he was orphaned at the innocent age of five, when his father was killed in the Second World War and his mother died of cancer. The Sisters of Saint Joseph took him in and raised him as their own. He lived with them and the other orphans there for years until he was old enough to finally leave. During his time spent there he decided he wanted to enter the priesthood, but the option was never open for him because he had such inadequate schooling. He did however have an enormous passion for gardening, thus he found his first job.
Around the age of twenty this man gave up his goal of becoming a priest and began working for the dioceses. Many churches were home to him; he would always have an apartment not so far away, and the entire community loved him. Harold got along especially with children and animals, but of course the elders felt his graciousness too. He was poor, but he worked to pay the rent and then volunteered the rest of his time. The man attended every single mass in the two parishes I was located near, and he helped set up and take down every last thing that had to be used for any event.
After awhile of course, Harold was growing old like the rest of us. The warm, energetic young man slowly changed into a lethargic older man. He still went to the church daily, and volunteered as much as ever, but everyone knew it was taking its toll. He made it to his sixty-seventh year, but was found dead in his apartment just before his favorite holiday – Christmas.
This man is a saint if anyone ever was, and deserves to be just as famous as any rap or rock megastar out there. Not many people can say they lived a life as hard as he does, because this man truly knew what it was like to give you life to God. There was not a day in his life where this man spent more than an hour without helping the community. Harold is truly a modern day saint.
