Today is Monday, January 26th, 2009; Karen's Korner #1496
A couple of writings and several thoughts from the small, coffee table book titled, "Random Acts of Kindness":
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"My wife was dying of cancer. There were lots of nonrandom kindnesses in our lives. People who knew us did many ordinary and extraordinary things. But what touched many of us in our community happened early in my wife's struggle. We decided to have a water filtration system installed in our house to take the impurities out of the water. The plumber we contacted installed the system and wouldn't accept any payment. We found out later his father had died of cancer."
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"Through our willingness to help others
we can learn to be happy
rather than depressed."
~~ Gerland Jampolsky
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"My grandmother was born in Russia at a time of great confusion and instabllity. She emigrated to this country as a young girl and ended up marrying a man who was extraordinarily successful. She could have lived in the fanciest neighborhood and eaten only at the best restaurants; instead she lived in a very modest area and would go to Woolworth's for coffee. In those days, a cup of coffee cost five cents, and whenever my grandmother would buy a cup, she would always leave a five dollar tip. Her explanation was simple: 'They work hard for their money.'"
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" Give light, and darkness
will disapper of itself."
~~ Erasmus
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"I grew up in what we would now call a dysfunctional family. My parents materially were quite well off, but we lived amidst emotional chaos and confusion in a wealthy suburb of Philadelphia. As with most children, I simply assumed that this was the way it was and that the problems, the undercurrents of anger and hostility, were somehow my fault. One day when I was still very young, after a particularly painful and confusing series of interactions with my parents, our maid took me aside to talk to me.
"She told me that she did not care if it cost her her job, she just could not continue to be a silent observer. She told me that my parents were crazy, that they were acting very badly, and not at all like good loving parents should act toward their children. She told me that I was a good sweet girl and that the situation was not my fault. It must have taken a lot of courage for her to do that. Not only to overcome the natural hesitation to intervene between parents and children, but to take the risk that I would not say something about our talk to my parents. I never did talk about it. It was an incredible gift. Her words gave me the explanation I needed, a way to stop blaming everything on myself."
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'I don't know what your destiny will be,
but one thing I do know;
the only ones among you who will be really happy
are those who have sought and found how to serve."
~~ Albert Schweitzer
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