Grace

The Goal
Standing in the lobby of the bloquería waiting to buy a few cinder blocks for his home, Pedro's eyes wandered across the walls, the floor, and the furniture like a dog sniffing new surroundings. Pedro was twenty, and had just purchased a small plot of land in the Mexican desert. For the past two weeks, he had slept under a lean-to shelter made from two sticks and a small tarpaulin. He was very happy to have saved enough pesos to purchase a few cinder blocks, which would begin the wall of his new home. It was a modest beginning, but he was proud of this accomplishment.

Only a few months before, Pedro had found work as a laborer in a construction company. It was backbreaking work under the hot Mexican sun. Each night, he would come home tired, dirty and sore. But, he was gainfully employed, and he was saving money a bit at a time.

Now, with a handful of pesos in his pocket, he waited anxiously to place his order for a few cinderblocks. As he waited, he noticed a stack of magazines on the counter. He pushed the top few aside taking little notice of them.

And then, he froze. The muscles in his face relaxed, and his mouth opened slightly. His eyes fixed on the photograph on the cover of the magazine. He blinked once and began to breathe deeply and quickly. He was awestruck by what he saw. The photograph was so foreign to him - so exotic - that he could scarcely believe something so beautiful truly existed.

There, on the cover of this travel magazine was a picture of a huge, white luxury cruise ship. It was clean and elegant, and it almost glowed against the turquoise lagoon in which it floated. Pedro had never even dreamed of anything so beautiful.

It was that moment that changed Pedro's life. As he stood staring at the picture of the cruise ship, he etched the picture into his memory and vowed that from that day forth, he would work hard, save his money, and someday take a cruise on that ship.

Working Hard Toward The Goal
From that moment on, Pedro went to work each day visualizing the picture of the cruise ship. In his mind, he traced each curve of the rail, peered through each porthole, and walked each deck. Whenever the heat became unbearable, he would remember the picture on the magazine cover, and would work with renewed energy. Whenever his limbs were too tired to move, he found new strength in the goal he worked toward. Whatever weakness he had to overcome, he simply overcame because he knew that the only way to achieve this goal was through steadfast perseverance.

Neither his eventual marriage nor his children dissuaded him from his goal. His wife and kids understood and supported Pedro's ultimate goal in life. They knew that he worked long hours to be able to provide for his family, and to save a little each week - a cachet that would someday pay for passage on that gleaming white ship.

Despair
Thirty years after Pedro first saw that magazine cover, he sat alone in his cinderblock house in the middle of the desert. Leading a frugal life, he had only a table and a chair, and a mat on the floor to sleep on. Any excessive furniture would have put him that much farther away from his cruise.

He sat at the table staring in disbelief at a small stack of bills. His eyes were sad. He barely breathed. After thirty years of toiling and saving, he had amassed only a paltry $34.

Where had the money gone, he wondered. He did the math over and over, calculating his wages, his budgeted expenses, and the number of years he had worked, and it just seemed there should be more money on the table.

But, he remembered that he had gotten married, and weddings cost money. After he was married, his widowed mother passed away, and funerals cost money. His wife became pregnant, and their first son, Jorge, became sick at age two and required medicine each day, and of course, medicine costs money. A year later, Jorge succumbed to his illness, and funerals cost money. His wife died giving birth to his daughter, and another funeral ate into Pedro's cruise funds. His daughter, Elena, grew to be a fine woman, and was married when she turned twenty-two. Weddings, of course, cost money.

Upon reflection, his life was quite hard, and the cards seemed to be stacked against him saving any money.

Regardless of the reasons, Pedro still had only a mere $34 after working toward his goal for thirty years - barely more than a $1 per year. Sadness enveloped his heart as he simmered in a quagmire of despair. "At this rate," he thought despondently, "I'll never be able to afford passage on that ship."

Stranger Arrives Bearing a Gift
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It startled Pedro. No one had ever knocked on his door before. His house was miles from the smallest town, and none of his friends ever came that far out to visit.

The door opened, and a tall, smiling gringo stepped inside and said, "Hello, Pedro." Pedro, already astonished that he had a visitor, was dumbfounded that the stranger knew his name. The man appeared somewhat younger than Pedro. He was clean-shaven, and his hair was neatly combed. He wore a white suit, but did not seem to be sweating. Strange, for a gringo.

"Pedro, I bring you good news," continued the stranger. "My name is Anthropist; you can call me Phil. You know that cruise you've always wanted to go on?"

Pedro's thoughts swirled in his mind as if driven by a tornado. How could this stranger know about the cruise?

Phil reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and extracted a small, rectangular piece of paper and placed it on the table in front of Pedro. It was a ticket - passage for one on the huge, white luxury liner that had been etched into his mind for thirty years!

Elation
Moments ago, he thought he would never be able to go on the cruise. And suddenly, his lifelong goal had been given to him. He stared at the ticket in disbelief, and then looked up at Phil with an expression that screamed, Why?

Phil just smiled contently.

Again, he looked at the ticket, and back up at Phil. This time, his expression asked, Is this for real?

Phil continued smiling, and nodded once.

A smile began to form on Pedro's face as he looked at the ticket again. This was too good to be true, though. There must be a catch. He looked again at Phil, his face exuding suspicion.

Phil cocked his head and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, No strings attached.

He picked up the ticket off the table. It was a dream come true.

Too Dirty
Pedro held the ticket with both hands. An excited smile flourished on his face. The ticket was clean and elegant, and it almost glowed. He looked up at Phil. He was so clean and elegant that he almost glowed. But, something looked out of place, and it was neither the ticket nor Phil. Pedro realized that it was he himself that didn't fit in.

His heart sank, and he said to Phil, "Señor, thank you very much, but I cannot go on this cruise. Look at me. I am filthy. I haven't bathed in more than a year. The dirt in which I have worked for these 30 years is ground in to my skin and has stained my fingernails. I have fleas and lice. I am wearing the only shirt I own and it is threadbare. These torn pants are my only pants, and these, my only pair of shoes, have holes in their soles. To go on a cruise like this, one must be clean and well dressed. I have only $34, and that is not enough even to buy the wardrobe that I would need.

"Besides," he continued, "the people who go on these cruises are well bred. They are clean and well mannered. I don't look like them. I don't speak like them. I don't act like them. Even if I have a ticket, I still have not raised myself up to the class of people who will board the ship. I wouldn't even know anyone on board."

Phil smiled at Pedro reassuringly. "Pedro," he said. "There are showers on the boat." He paused a second, then continued. "And, the dress code is very casual these days. You can wear what you've got on, though most people wear the complimentary robes on board. And as for you not being like the others - guess what. They don't look like you, either. They don't speak like you do, and they don't act like you do. Yet, you'll fit in just fine. Besides, you'll know at least one person on board - I'll be there, and you know me."

Didn't Earn It
Pedro believed Phil, and the possibility of going on the cruise became stronger. But, he hesitated. Something else stood between him and the gangplank for which he had yearned for so long.

"Señor, thank you for the gift, but I cannot accept." It hurt Pedro to speak those words. "You see, thirty years ago, I set for myself the goal of earning enough money to go on a cruise. So far, I have only saved $34. I have not yet earned this ticket, so I cannot accept your wonderful gift. I will work harder, and someday I will have earned my passage on the cruise ship. Until then, I do not deserve this ticket."

Pedro placed the ticket on the table and stared at it as if to say goodbye. He was, after all, a proud man, and would not take charity. When he looked up, he was astonished to see how Phil's face had changed. Gone were the kind, compassionate grin and the smiling eyes. Now, his lips were pursed, his eyebrows strained, and his eyes glared at Pedro, who was now becoming a bit frightened.

Phil placed both palms on the table and leaned in front of Pedro's face. "Pedro!" he said, as if trying to awaken him from a coma. "In thirty years, you have saved only $34. If you work the rest of your life - if you work, and toil, and save for a thousand lifetimes - you will never be able to afford a ticket for this cruise on your own. You will never have enough money to buy this ticket; you will die working toward a goal you can never reach on your own. The only way you will ever be able to go on this cruise is if you accept this ticket as a gift."

The words cut deeply into Pedro's pride, not because they were mean-spirited words or because they were lies - but because they were the truth. Pedro knew that Phil was right, that at this rate, he would die never fulfilling his life's ambition.

He felt foolish. He now knew that he had wasted his life on an unattainable dream. He closed his eyes and bowed his head. His hands fell limply into his lap. He felt dejected, like he was nothing - less than a single grain of sand in his vast desert homeland.

Yet, there was Phil - clean, elegant, and almost glowing - standing in Pedro's own home in the middle of the desert. How could Pedro be nothing if this man had come from so far away to personally deliver this gift? His mind struggled with this dichotomy as Phil pushed himself up from the table, stood and turned toward the door.

For Everyone
From Pedro's doorway, Phil turned and said, "Don't be too hard on yourself, Pedro." The compassionate smile and glistening eyes had returned. "You've heard of Bill Gates? He has more money than anyone else in the world. He couldn't buy his own ticket, either. And, all those folks over in the Middle East with all that oil - they came up short, too. Kings, queens, moguls - none of them could buy their own ticket. But, I really wanted them to go on the cruise with me, so I bought all of their tickets for them, just like I bought this ticket just for you. All you have to do is accept it.

"And by the way," Phil smiled. "It's a really great boat, and the cruise lasts - an eternity."

Phil smiled, winked and waved, and before Pedro could ask how he had gotten that scar in the palm of his hand, he was gone.