Red Thumb Print by Sally McAtee Preface: During a mission trip to Korea to give back to the country that had given them so much…their children, a group of American mothers of Korean adopted children were able to look at the birth records of their children. The birth records at Eastern Social Welfare Society are signed with a red thumbprint. In seeing the thumbprint on her son's record, Sally was overcome with emotion and later began her journal entry.... Friday, March 30th (Midnight) I stared at the small red blot on the paper in front of me. I compared the small red thumbprint to all of my fingers finally deciding that the size was most similar to my pointer finger. The burden that went along with this print was suddenly overwhelming. In God's perfect time, a young woman was faced with an incredible decision and because she chose to give a thumbprint, I had become a mother! A thumbprint had held my future! I wondered if after she had stamped the paper, the red ink had stayed etched on her hand for a time afterward. Was it a constant reminder of what she had done? Did she feel like she was marked with shame? I wanted to reach out to her, nearly three years later, and tell her that she had been marked with God's love. The thumbprint was a sealed covenant for life. Our fingerprints tell us who we are. Another person's thumbprint was now telling me who I was. A mother of a son born to a strong birthmother who chose a future for her son with a stamp of her thumb. While visiting Jacob's Home, I had looked at all those toddlers who may never know the love of a mommy and daddy. Now I realized that a red thumbprint was all they needed. It seemed so easy, but I knew it wasn't. The weight of the world sitting on a thumb. I only wish my son's birthmother could have worn her red ink as a badge of honor, bravery, and love. She will always be my hero. I would love to hold her thumb in my embrace, but for now it will remain in my heart. Sally is the mother of three children, two adopted from South Korea.
Her story first appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of Childlink, quarterly newsletter of Dillon International, Inc., a licensed, non-profit international adoption agency. | 