There's nothing I could possibly add to this story, except to say that this man may never be raised to the altar, but he is, I'm sure, a saint:
If you ever ran into Nokesville dad Thomas S. Vander Woude, chances are you would also see his son Joseph. Whether Vander Woude was volunteering at church, coaching basketball or working on his farm, Joseph was often right there with him, pitching in with a smile, friends and neighbors said yesterday.When Joseph, 20, who has Down syndrome, fell into a septic tank Monday in his back yard, Vander Woude jumped in after him. He saved him. And he died where he spent so much time living: at his son's side.
"That's how he lived," Vander Woude's daughter-in-law and neighbor, Maryan Vander Woude, said yesterday. "He lived sacrificing his life, everything, for his family."
Vander Woude, 66, had gone to Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville on Monday, just as he did every day, and then worked in the yard with Joseph, the youngest of his seven sons, affectionately known as Josie. Joseph apparently fell through a piece of metal that covered a 2-by-2-foot opening in the septic tank, according to Prince William County police and family members.
Vander Woude rushed to the tank; a workman at the house saw what was happening and told Vander Woude's wife, Mary Ellen, police said. They called 911 about 12 p.m. and tried to help the father and son in the meantime.
At some point, Vander Woude jumped in the tank, submerging himself in sewage so he could push his son up from below and keep his head above the muck, while Joseph's mom and the workman pulled from above.
When rescue workers arrived, they pulled the two out, police said. Vander Woude, who had been in the tank for 15 to 20 minutes, was unconscious. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
He drowned in sewage to save his son. Read the whole thing. There are no words.
(Photo from Christendom College, where Vander Woude was the athletic director for many years, until his recent retirement).
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Though it isn't our "regular" parish, we sometimes attends Mass at the church where Mr. Vander Woude's oldest son is the parish priest.
My prayers for his family continue.
mm - it's the price of the human condition, really. Many men, many of our best men, should have grown old and grey and died peacefully in their sleep. But they didn't. The Christian faith offers hope that things will be righted in the end. But hope can be small comfort in the face of grief, all those nice platitudes aside.
May God have mercy on the man, and his son.
There's a strange undercurrent in this story. Not, apparently, in the life and views of this hero, but in the rest of us.
Is it more wonderful that this man sacrificed himself for his son because the son was retarded? Would it be less wonderful if the son had been "normal" or even exceptionally talented? Are we congratulating this man on doing what every good father would do, sacrifice himself for his son, because we wonder somewhere whether or not in his place we'd hesitate because the son in question has Downs Syndrome?
Mr. Woude obviously had no such reservations. To sacrifice yourself for your child - this is heroic, if relatively common. (Perhaps we're better, all of us, than we think we are.) To make no distinction between a "normal" child and one who is not is uncommon (see, the abortion rates on Downs babies) but it is our duty as parents.
Well, I can't speak for the others, but the fact that the son who was saved is handicapped doesn't affect the moral qualities of the father's sacrifice.
I don't think the tragic beauty of this story has to do with the fact that his son was retarded. I think it has to do with (what we can assume to be) a righteous man voluntarily dying an unimaginably terrible way in order to save a son who didn't have the ability to save himself. All parallels intended. That's a Christlike love, and a love that we're all called to toward not only our sons, but also our neighbors.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.