What gives us the power to say “No”?
“I hate you!” screamed Beverly at the top of her lungs. She had just realized her aunt had rummaged through her drawers again. The old tattered sock that once contained bundles of bills was completely emptied and lay defiantly discarded on the ground.
“I hate you too!” barked back her aunt. “I already warned you, that everything you earn at work belongs to me! That is what it costs to live under my roof; you ungrateful little rat!”
“I am going to leave and never come back!” wailed Beverly. “I am so tired of being your slave! I work all day at the theme park! And you always steal everything away from me!”
“Go ahead and leave! You say that every day! No one wants you! Not even your parents! Didn’t they abandon you at the theme park many years ago?” shrieked the aunt with a hysterical laugh.
As Beverly tearfully arrived at the theme park later that morning and began her grueling shift picking up garbage, she caught a glimpse of a familiar elderly couple. They stood out from the crowd because they were never accompanied by a child. And instead of riding the rides, they spent all of their time desperately striking up conversations with strangers. And at the end of their conversations, they would always pull out the same crumpled piece of paper and burst into tears.
Even though Beverly was too accustomed to hiding behind her a thick curtain of unkempt bangs, her curiosity drew her closer towards the couple that morning. And she overheard their conversation.
The couple shared a heart-wrenching story of how their daughter was viciously kidnapped in broad daylight many years ago. They spent all their life savings and all their vacation time returning to the theme park every year in hopes of finding her. And when they pulled out the crumpled piece of paper, Beverly gasped! For she saw a picture of herself when she was small.
In that very moment, the suffocating strings of control her alleged aunt had over her were immediately severed. She had the courage to not only meet and embrace her long lost parents. But her newly discovered self-worth finally unshackled her from living in the shadow of another person’s manipulation and control.
