Levi Bentley had cosmetic surgery Friday in Cape Girardeau to correct scar tissue that affects his smile. He is shown here eating candy.
(Diane L. Wilson)
[quote]Loving Levi
Sunday, April 9, 2006, SCOTT MOYERS ~ Southeast Missourian
The baby was burned. Badly burned.
As the rain fell on an otherwise serene Chinese cornfield, 40 or so villagers stood around the tiny newborn and listened.
The baby was crying.
No one dared pick him up. Touching him might make them responsible.
Besides, the baby was dying.
Severe burns had marred his face. His head. His stomach. His back. His left arm was charred black and trembling. At the end of his right wrist rested a tiny, blackened fist. His legs, particularly his left foot, were red and glowing.
The baby wasn’t going to make it anyway, and the villagers knew it.
Even the ones who left the baby there earlier that evening, probably his parents, knew he would be dead soon. They had carefully wrapped the little one in a yellow Chinese burial blanket, now stained with his blood.
They left 10 yuan – about $1.25 in U.S. currency – lying next to the baby. He would need it, according to their religion, for safe passage into the next life.
For several long minutes the villagers listened to the baby cry.
No one spoke.
Finally, one of the villagers, the father of a little boy himself, could stand it no more.
He picked up the baby.
Amazingly, the baby stopped crying.
(the rest of this beautiful story at link) semissourian.com/story/1147557.html[/quote]
There is hope and compassion in the world.