Truth and Healing
I’ve been listening to the book, “The One-in-a-Million Boy”, and it is so beautiful. I’m only about eleven chapters in, but already it has hit me in a deep way. I belong to a monthly book club, and sometimes I don’t get to the novel because I’m busy reading those “self-help” books. But this week, this novel really pulled me in.
It tells the story of Ona, a 104-year-old woman, and her unexpected friendship with an eleven-year-old brilliant, autistic boy. He begins visiting her as part of a community service project, but what develops is something much more beautiful and meaningful. He becomes genuinely curious about her life. And more importantly, he listens.
Ona has had a long, complicated life. Over time, she begins to open up to him because he offers her something very rare, his full presence, without judgment. And in that space, she shares her memories and her truth…which a lot had gone unspoken for years. He truly sees her not just as an elderly woman near the end of her life, but as a whole human being with a rich and meaningful past. And she does the same for him. Because of his brilliance and unusual ways, he is often without a friend, and someone who will listen. He loves being with her too so he can share his fun ideas about statistics, world records and more.
At its core, the story is about friendship. But what struck me most is how that friendship is built on honesty and trust. They are completely themselves with each other. No pretending, just speaking their truth.
It made me think of programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, where people gather and do something very similar and speak their truth while others listen without trying to solve anything.
I think that is where true healing begins.
Can we be that for each other?
I felt that same theme in a film I just saw a few weeks ago at the Alamo, I Can Only Imagine. It tells the story of Bart Millard from his painful childhood with an abusive father to healing and forgiveness. It was a great movie. Very inspiring. This healing too, unfolds through honesty, faith, and the support of others, similar to the structure of a 12-step program. His story, like Ona’s, shows us what can happen when we are brave enough to share our truth, and someone is kind enough to truly listen. Something inside us begins to heal.
Maybe a one-in-a-million kind of love is not so rare after all. It’s available to us every day in the simple moments when we have the courage to speak our truth and others have the courage to take it in without judgement.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” – Peter A. Levine
“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.” – Audre Lorde
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” – John 8:32
Love and gratitude,