1 min 59 sec: app reading time
May 1, 2025
Dear Friend:
A reliable source posted that this poem was written in Portuguese by a singer named Marcella Tias in 2016.
It appeared on Tumblr and has since been reposted repeatedly across many platforms and attributed to many people, including Pope Francis just a few days ago.
The most reliable sources reveal that the poem was written for the first time in April 2016, and the author is unknown, except that it has been used by others.
Regardless of who wrote it, I found it to be a powerful message for all humans inhabiting the same world.
This poem touched me because five of my kids are medical doctors and are directly involved in saving lives. Many of my dear friends are medical doctors, nurses, and first responders. I honor their service with my heart!
Here is the poem:
“The walls of hospitals have heard more honest prayers than churches...
They have witnessed far more sincere kisses than those in airports...
It is in hospitals that you see a homophobe being saved by a gay doctor.
A privileged doctor saving the life of a beggar...
In intensive care, you see a Jew taking care of a racist...
A police officer and a prisoner in the same room receiving the same care...
A wealthy patient waiting for a liver transplant, ready to receive the organ from a poor donor...
It is in these moments, when the hospital touches people's wounds, that different worlds intersect according to a divine design. In this communion of destinies, we realize that alone, we are nothing.
Most of the time, people's absolute truth only reveals itself in moments of pain or when they are faced with the real threat of irreversible loss.
A hospital is a place where human beings remove their masks and show themselves as they truly are, in their purest essence.
This life will pass quickly, so do not waste it fighting with people.
Do not criticize your body too much.
Please don’t worry about it.
Do not lose sleep over bills.
Could you make sure to hug your loved ones?
Please don’t worry too much about keeping the house spotless.
Each person must earn material goods—do not dedicate yourself to accumulating an inheritance.
You are waiting for too much: Christmas, Friday, next year, when you have money, when love arrives, when everything is perfect...
Listen, perfection does not exist.
A human being cannot attain it because we are not made to be fulfilled here.
Here, we are given an opportunity to learn.
So, make the most of this trial of life—and do it now.
Respect yourself and respect others. Walk your path, and let go of the path others have chosen for you.
Respect: do not comment, do not judge, do not interfere.
Love more, forgive more, embrace more, live more intensely!
And leave the rest in the hands of the Creator.”
Thank you, health providers and first responders, for being the face of God when we face difficult times and experience physical pain.
With you on your journey,
Pastor Harold