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KINDNESS
Kindness, as Mother Teresa so beautifully said, is the only language that we
all understand. We’ve all heard the saying, “What goes around comes around,”
and the following true story is a wonderful reminder of how simple acts of
kindness can come back to us when we least expect it.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while
trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from
a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his
waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free
himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and
terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse
surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced
himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.” “No, I
can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied, waving
off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the
family home.
“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.
“Yes,” the farmer replied proudly.
“I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own
son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow
to be a man we both will be proud of.” And that he did. Farmer Fleming’s son
attended the very best schools and, in time, graduated from St. Mary’s
Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout
the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog, was
stricken with pneumonia.
What saved his life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir
Winston Churchill.
Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Sarah who lived in the
village below the Mountain of the Golden Footprints. She was feeling very
sad and depressed. Nothing or no one could make her happy. She had been very
unhappy and depressed for a long time. What is the use of going on she
thought. Nothing anyone said seemed to make a difference on others.
I shall pass through
this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I
can show to any human being, let me do it now...for I shall not pass this
way again.
--William Penn
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