Recently I was in Las Vegas. It was the last night of my trip to a
foster care parents association conference where I was hawking my new book for
foster children: Kit Coyote: A Brave
Pup.
As a treat, I went to see the most fabulous magician Mat Franco.
Lots of people know him from show America’s Got Talent but I’d never seen the
show and never heard of Mat. His magic tricks are stupendous, awe-inspiring and
so was his personality as he unfolded bits of his childhood growing up and
practicing, practicing, practicing to become a great magician. His ability to
stun the thousands in the audience obviously pleased him and it pleased us–
because we love to experience MAGIC even as we’re wondering how does he do
that…there must be a trick!!
Earlier in the day, however, I learned about a different sort of
magic. I heard about the magic performed by Dr. John Degarmo and his wife in
caring for foster children. For nearly 15 years, the couple have performed the
daily and nightly magic of soothing the hearts of bereaved children, calming
their night terrors, coping with their rage, giving these unfortunate girls and
boys the chance of believing that someone cares about them in a world that’s been
uniformly cruel and callous to them.
I won’t say which magic is more potent. Because the world needs
both. We need a conjurer and performer to make us believe in a world beyond the
beyond. And we need individuals who are committed to the heartbreaking tasks of
giving hope to the hopelessly hurt among us.
nice
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