KINDNESS is a language which the blind can see and the deaf can hear. Kind words toward those you daily meet, Kind words and actions right, Will make this life of ours most sweet, Turn darkness into light… Isaac Watts
One stormy night, many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. The couple had no baggage. “All the big places are filled up,” said the man. “Can you possibly give us a room here?
The clerk replied that there were conventions in town, and no accommodations anywhere. “Every guest room is taken,” he explained. “But still I simply can’t send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o’clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? Oh, I’ll make out just fine; don’t worry about me.” The next morning, as he paid his bill, the elderly man said to the clerk:
“You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. After two years he was called to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street and found the same elderly man who pointed to a vast new building there, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers, like a castle from fairyland cleaving the New York sky. “That,” he declared, “is the hotel I have just build for you to manage.”
His benefactor was William Waldorf Astor-and the hotel, the most famous of its day, the original Waldorf-Astoria. We should treat well all strangers who seek our help. Under a ragged coat they may hide their wings! Tears glistened in the eyes of Salvation Army officer Shaw as he looked at the three men before him. Shaw was a medical missionary who had just arrived in India. It was the turn of the century, and the Salvation Army was taking over the care of the leper colony.”
But these three leapers had manacles and fetters binding their hands and feet, cutting the diseased flesh. Captain Shaw turned to the guard and said, “Please unfasten the chains.” “It isn’t safe,” the guard replied. “These man are dangerous criminals as well as lepers.” “I’ll be responsible. They’re suffering enough,” Captain Shaw said, as he put out his hand and took the keys. Then he knelt on the ground, tenderly removed the shackles and treated their bleeding ankles.
About two weeks later Captain Shaw had his first misgivings about freeing the criminals. He had to make an overnight trip and dreaded leaving his wife and child alone. But the next morning when she went to her front door, she was startled to see the three criminals lying on her steps. One explained, “We know doctor go. We stay here so no harm come to you.” This was how “dangerous men” responded to an act of kindness. Yes, kindness is a language we all must learn..!
—(bobsbanter@gmail.com)
