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This is a story about the power of love, told by a Rabbi by the name of Jack Riemer. There was once a man and a teenager who shared a train ride to a place called Smithville. The man happened to sit down next to the young man who was no more than 17 years old. Because the boy was tense, the man wondered what could be worrying somebody so young. Whatever it was, the boy's tension was clear.
The boy kept staring out the window, paying no attention to anyone else on the train. The man tried to forget about him by opening up a book and reading. But then, he would look up and see the boy's face pressed against the window. He sensed that the boy was fighting to keep from crying. This was the way that they traveled through the night- the man attempting to read and the boy sitting and staring out the window.
Finally, the boy asked the man, "Do you know what time it is? And do you know when we are due to arrive at Smithville?"
The man gave the boy the time, and went on to say, "Smithville, that's a very small town, isn't it? I didn't know that the train stopped there." "It usually doesn't," said the boy, "But they said that they would stop there for me so that I could get off- If I decide to. I used to live there."
The boy returned to the window and the man to his book. It was quite a while before conversation began once again. But when it did, the boy told the man the whole story of his life. "Four years ago," he said, "I did something very bad, so bad that I had to run away from home. I couldn't face my father after what I did. So I left without even saying good-bye to him. Since then, I have worked a bit here and a bit there. I never stayed very long in one place. I've been pretty lonely. Until finally, I decided that I want to go back to my father's house."
The man went on to ask, "Does your father know that you're coming?" And the boy responded, "He knows that I'm coming, but I don't know if he will be there or not. I sent him a letter. I didn't know if he would still want me back or not after what I did. I wasn't sure if he would forgive me. So in my letter, I said that I would come home if he wanted me to. I told him that if he wanted me to come home, he could put a sign on a tree which is a few hundred yards before the railroad station in Smithville. I told him that I would look for a white ribbon on one of the branches of that tree as the train passes. If there is a white ribbon on the tree, then I'll get off. If not, then I'll just keep on riding to wherever this train goes."
A friendship developed between the man and the boy. The two of them were now waiting for Smithville. Suddenly, the boy turned to the man and asked, 'Will you do me a favor? Will you please look for me? I'm scared to look for that ribbon on the tree." Now involved, the man agreed and took a turn staring out the window for a ribbon on a tree.
A few moments later, the conductor came down the aisle and called out, "Next stop-Smithville." The boy could not move, The man, however, looked as hard as he could. And then he saw it! He shouted so loud that all the people in the train turned around. "It's there! Look, it's there! The tree is covered with white ribbons! Not just one- there's a whole bunch!"
The boy's father had every reason to reject his son. As Rabbi Riemer reflected about this story, "The father had every right and every reason not to put up a white ribbon- and yet he did." Only a father whose love is real could blanket the tree with white ribbons, each one of them proclaiming "Reconciliation Day".
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