Today was the 3rd anniversary of her husband’s passing and as always she went to the park to sit on their park bench which held so many fond memories. As the lady approached the park bench, she could see someone sitting on it; and resentfully thought “How dare someone sit on our park bench, don’t they know what today means to me?”

As the lady got closer to the park bench, she could see a young boy tightly clutching an empty matchbox in his hand while he was crying. The lady immediately felt guilty about her previous unkind thoughts, and she sat down next to the young boy and enquired to why he was crying.

The boy told her that he kept two beetles in the matchbox until one died suddenly, and now he decided to let the other one go free. The lady looked into the boys eyes and she knew that he had loved those beetles – they were his friends – and she knew all about losing someone you loved. But as she looked at the boy with sadness, and understanding in her heart, she could not find any words of comfort to give. Instead, the lady asked the boy “Why had he not caught another beetle to replace the one that had died?”

The boy replied “It would not be the same. I want my remaining beetle to be happy, for he might not like the new beetle. So he should be free to choose his own friends.”

Soon the young boy left, leaving an empty matchbox beside her. After awhile, as the lady got up to leave, she noticed two beetles together on the ground and wondered if the young boys beetle had found a new friend. The lady could not explain it, but for the first time since the passing of her husband, she was not afraid for her future.

She realised that she had become the beetle in the matchbox, except that her matchbox prison, was the dark walls of despair, anger and bitterness. Though there was no young boy to set her free, the boy did remove the lid from the matchbox. And now it was up to her to find a way out of her matchbox prison.

She felt rather ashamed and embarrassed that a small child so young had shown her – a woman in her early 50’s – the important lesson of letting go. No matter how much that young boy wanted to keep his beloved beetle, he had found the courage to let go.

No one could ever replace the loss of her husband, or take away those special memories of togetherness. She knew the climb out of her own matchbox would not be easy, for the feelings of loneliness and abandonment will still overwhelm her.

The lady knew deep down within side her that everything was going to be fine. And she would always be grateful for that chance meeting with the boy and his beetle. For he gave her something very precious that no one else had given her since the death of her beloved husband. HOPE.

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