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D. The purpose of life is to share love. C
Police officer Jody Thompson first met his son John in 2015. He was pulling into the car park at the Poteau Police Department in Oklahoma when he overheard a call about a case of physical child abuse. Despite being off duty, Thompson responded to the call.
He arrived at the scene to find a severely underweight boy, who was covered in bruises (淤青) with his wrists tied. The eight-year-old, who weighed just over 25 kilograms at the time, had been left in a dustbin (垃圾箱) full of cold water.
“He didn’t have a spot on his body that didn’t have a bruise. It was the worst thing I’d ever seen,” Thompson said. Thompson drove John to hospital and sat by his side all night as the child recovered in the intensive care unit.
The following day, he contacted the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) to request he become the child’s foster parent (养父). Within just a few days, Thompson had brought John into the safety of his own home.
“When I’d seen him in that house shivering and his hands tied – just wet to the skin and confused – I knew at that moment, the only time I would be satisfied and sure that he was safe is if he was with me,” he said.
Thompson already had two sons, aged 15 and 18. He didn’t tell his family about his plan at first, but said they had faith he was doing the right thing. In an extraordinary twist, just two days after bringing John into the family home, he found out his wife was pregnant with their third biological son.
And seven months later, DHS called the Thompsons to ask if they wanted to foster John’s newborn sister, Paizly, who was born in prison. They picked her up the next day – when she was just a day old – and brought her straight home. Both John and Paizly were later adopted by Thompson and his wife.
“The example of love that Thompson has shown to this young man and his sister is an example everyone should follow,” Poteau Police Chief Stephen Fruenr said in a statement. “It’s men like Thompson that make me proud of our police force brothers and sisters. I am proud to serve with him.”