I am so thankful for the parents I had. They were example of commitment to the Lord as well as spirituality.
As you might know, I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I grew up in a town named San Cristobal. In my town, my parents enjoyed enormous respect by the community. It was not unusual to hear expressions like “Your Dad is a Saint or Angel”.
There is one particular anecdote that stood out over so many other experiences. It was about the interaction between my father (Reyes) and his brother in-law (Francisco) who had a severe psychiatry disorder.
Francisco was a good man when he was in his normal state but became very aggressive and dangerous during hard moments of life. Those difficult times became more frequent and he began to lock himself in with his family and would abuse them physically and mentally.
Since at that time, there was no 911 in the DR, the neighbor’s reaction was to call my father.
I remember how Dad rushed out to the scene and somehow enter the house and release the children.
Some relatives that witnessed these events described them as follows:
“Once Reyes arrived, knocked the door and identified himself; Francisco would start calming down and go to a corner of the living room where He stood up quietly like a little lamb. Then Reyes would say; I am taking the children out of here. Francisco would answer; yes take them with you”
It is particularly puzzling from the clinical standpoint to explain this calming effect. We need to understand that Francisco was diagnosed with Schizophrenia-paranoid. The usual treatment regimen includes: potent drugs, jail, restraining garnets.
Sadly, his illness was so severe that in one of those events he jumped from the 4th floor of the hospital and killed himself. He was not in touch with reality and could never seem to get better.
When I ponder back on these moments though, it amazes me how the presence of my father would calm him down like a “little lamb”. I must say that I have invested significant amount of time trying to figure it out. I can’t say that I have. So I’ll pose this question to you:
Do you think it was “positive energy” that calmed my troubled uncle, or was it something else … something or someone much more powerful?