as a young man, al was a skilled1 artist, a potter with a wife and two fine sons. one night, his older son d*loped a s*re stomachache. thinking it was only some common intestinal2（肠的） disorder3, neither al nor his wife took the condition very seriously . but the boy died suddenly that night.
knowing the death could have been avoided if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, he always felt he was guilty. to make matters worse, his wife left him a short time later, leaving him alone with his six-year-old younger son. the hurt and pain of the two situations were * than al could stand, and he turned to alcohol4 for *. in time al became an alcoholic5.
as the alcoholism progressed, al began to lose *rything he possessed6 -- his land, house, etc. finally al died alone in a small bar. hearing of al's death, i thought, "what a totally wasted life! what a complete failure! "
as time went by , i began to revalue my earlier rough judgement . i knew al's now * son, ernie. he is one of the kindest, most caring , most loving men i have *r known. i saw the love between ernie and his children, thinking that kindness and caring had to come from somewhere .
i hadn't heard ernie talked much about his father. one day, i worked up my courage to ask him what on earth his father had done so that he became such a special person. ernie said quietly, "as a child until i left home at 18, al came into my room *ry night, gave me a kiss and said, "love you, son."
tears came to my eyes as i realized what i had been a fool to judge al as a failure. he had not left any material possessions behind. but he had been a kind loving father, and left behind his best love.
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