At the climax of the Camp Simcha Special musical, a camper in a wheelchair read the following poem, which he spent the entire previous night writing, to the entire camp. When he finished, there wasn’t a single dry eye in the entire room. The following is the text.
“These wheels are turning through what feels like a never-ending journey.
The cracks in the road bring back the painful memories of that kid who couldn’t keep from falling down to tears.
He remembers the time he could walk, back breaking, legs trembling, slowly getting worse…uncontrollable.
His limbs began to crumble, bending, twisting, and becoming those turning wheels.
The cracks in the road opened, and the wheels were put to a halt.
He fell to his knees, those weak knees that for so long couldn’t support the poor little kid when he needed it the most.
He found himself screaming and he was awake.
Creeping in his dreams was that evil fear, absorbing his very happiness and turning it into dust.
Only it wasn’t a dream.
He lay there sinking into the cracks, he couldn’t get out.
“How would he get through it all?” he thought.
He was tired but he couldn’t sleep without thinking about those turning wheels, why couldn’t they just keep turning? The cracks kept appearing and opening, and every single time he found himself falling to the ground, and back through the earth he used to walk on.
He was helpless in the darkness of the pit, a world of nothingness.
No one to look to, nothing he could do.
Even that little ounce of hope was buried deep down in the ground, far below him, out of his reach.
There was a reason HE was chosen, to overcome what he thought he never could, and to inspire those who hit bottom. You see, that same kid who was scared that he would die before he made a difference, is sitting right in front of you telling YOU that there is hope no matter the situation.
Enjoy what you have.
The good outweighs the bad, so live life to the fullest, even if you feel like the good will never come. I’m a living witness.
From Genesis 1:1 on, I learnt that life was a journey to greatness, but not without the struggles and the pain.
The purpose of life isn’t only to suffer, NO I had it all wrong, the purpose of life is to face the horrors of reality, beating them to the ground, and walking through the tunnels of greatness.
God got me through, making me part of a holy nation.
From the brink of death, on the road to survival, I made it.
With the power of God I knew I’d never fail, only rising higher than the rest.
I even got out of the cracks in the road that took me prisoner during the darkest days of my life.
Camp Simcha Special…(pause)…It is tough to describe in words what goes on here, what kids feel when they come here, but for me it is the place above the cracks, filling in the gaps, in my life showing me that love and happiness really does exist.
I was not the only one suffering, not even the one suffering the most.
Many others shared my misfortune, but here, misfortune is conquered by children laughing and smiling like they never thought they would.
Doing what they never thought they could.
Forgetting what they could never forget…knowing that they are in the happiest place in the world.”