Footprints

     Do you know about the story behind the creation of a poetry entitled ‘Footprints?’ The poetry has touched millions hearts of people around the world. However, only some people who know the creator of the poetry, and not too many people know the background of the poetry’s delivery. Moreover, only several people know that it is actually a story about an engage period in an evening on seashore.

     The creator is Margaret Fishback, a teacher of a Christian elementary school for Indian children in Canada. Margaret’s body is small for Canadian’s size. Her height is only 147 cm. Her body is thin and her face is beautiful, just like a child. Therefore, even though she is an adult and a teacher, she is often categorized as a child and receives the ticket for children whenever she uses bus.

     Margaret grew up in a family, which was warm and full of love. But there were some incidents happened in her childhood. When she was a first grade student in elementary school, she got a bad memory on her teacher. Margaret used Germany dialect, because her father was a German. Every time she spelled an English word in Germany dialect, her teacher would directly hit her fingers with a wood ruler. Each finger of Margaret’s was bruised reddish.
     “Do not speak in German dialect. Use the correct dialect. If you don’t, watch out...!” It was the anger and the warning she had every day. She felt so scared. Whenever she wanted to go to school, she was always covered with fear. Why was I angered? What was my fault? What’s wrong if people spoke in German dialect? “Later, I had just known that at that time the World War II was on and the German was very hated in America and Canada,” says Margaret, remembering her childhood.

     Other bitter memory that she still remembers is about her two girl friends at class. “I was close to all my friends. They were happy playing with me, except two girls that fortunately had big body. The two of them often made bad things on me. Lucky me, there was a boy friend who always gave me protection. Though, one day the boy didn’t come to school. The two girls, who had big body, hit me down. Then, they sat on my stomach while they were tickling me. I almost lost my breath. Fortunately, there was someone passing by, so that they left me. I directly ran away in fear, until finally I fell down and was unconscious. I was hospitalized for several days. But the worst was I felt that I was following by fear for months,” said Margaret.

     In her adolescence, Margaret got a traumatic experience. In a daytime that has bad weather, she was in a classroom. Suddenly the window was opened and she was struck by lightning. She was flung into the floor. After several days hospitalized, she still had a disease that could not be recovered. Her nerve was disturbed; therefore, she was often trembled.

     Some bad experiences above contributed the birth of ‘Footprint’ poetry, which was written when she had engaged with a handsome man named Paul.
That day Margaret and Paul went to a camping area in north Toronto to teach Boy and Girl Scouts and their parents. In the middle of the journey, they walked along beautiful seashore. “Let’s walk to the seashore first,” Margaret advised. With a strong enthusiasm, they put off their shoes then walked hand in hand along the beach.

     When they walked, they clearly recognized their two pairs of footprints on the beach. However, on certain places, the wave wiped one pair of the footprints away.
“Hi, Paul,” said Margaret. ”Look, my footprints were gone. Might it be happened to our marriage? All of our dreams and togetherness will be gone wiped by the wave,” said Margaret softly. “Don’t think like that, Honey,” said Paul. “I even see a beautiful sign. After married, something formerly two becomes one. Margie, our lives are maintained by God. In a hard situation, if we are not able to walk, God will carry us, just like this...” Paul then lifted Margaret who has small size, carried her and rotated around the beach in happiness and intimate.

     That night, when they had just arrived in the camping area, Margaret directly wrote on her experience and deep feeling when she was on the beach into a beautiful and touched poetry, which was then famous to around the world:

One night I dreamed a dream.
I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand.
One belong to me and one to my Lord.
 
When the last scene of my life shot before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
There was only one set of footprints.
I realized that this was the lowest and the saddest times of my life.
This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.
  
“Lord, You told me when I decided to follow,
You would walk and talk with me all the way.
But I’m aware that during the most trouble sometimes of my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I just don’t understand why, when I need You most, You leave me.”
 
He whispered, “My precious child,
I love you and will never leave you,
never, ever, during your trials and tests.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

      The poetry invites us to see our live journey. In that journey, our footprints and God’s footprint were side by side. But, in hard situations, where many bad things happened to us and our live journey is in danger, we feel as if God leaves us. Only one pair of footprints appears. Actually, God is helping us. The footprint appears is God’s footprint. Where are our footprints? They are gone. At those situations, God is carrying us. Thank you, God. You always stay with me...