Rituals

I heard a great story today that I'd like to retell:

An elderly gentleman with dementia, living at a nursing hom e, started exhibiting some disturbing behavior. Before going to bed at night he'd shuffle up and down through the halls of the nursing home.  This particular place had pictures of all the residents outside each room, to help them all find which room was theirs.  AT each room this elderly man would pause, and then kiss the picture of the elderly resident. He'd wander up and down the halls doing this until the staff would loose patience and force him to bed.  What at first seemed cute, really began to disturb everyone working there, and even some of the other residents.  The head nurse called this man's family to discuss the situation.  The daughter listened to the story and then said, "I know exactly what to do to fix the problem, and I'm sorry I forgot about it".  The next morning she arrived, a picture frame in her hand.  As she placed a picture of a young boy next to her father's bed she explained, "This is his oldest boy, who died tragically at the age of 8.  All our lives, dad would kiss our brother's picture before turning out the lights to go to bed. I think he's been wandering the halls looking for his son's picture, to kiss goodnight"  Sure enough, with that picture beside his bed, he never wandered the halls again.