Now that we are fully into the New Year, I want to share some true-to-life examples of how people are constantly and consistently reaching out to others in a positive way. Lilian Figueroa of Phoenix, Arizona, shared this example in Reader’s Digest: 

Last December, before work, I stopped at a deli and ordered an Everything Bagel with cream cheese. It was toasty warm and I could hardly wait to dig in. But as I left the store, I noticed an older indigent gentleman sitting at the bus stop.  Knowing that it would probably be his only warm meal of the day, I gave him the Bagel. But all was not lost for me. Another customer from the deli, seeing what had transpired, offered me half of her Bagel. I was delighted because I realized that in one way or another, we are all being looked after.

A second example in Reader’s Digest came from Mohammed Basha of Gainsville, Florida. 

He said:  "As I walked through the parking lot, all I could think about was the dire diagnosis I had handed my patient Jimmy: Pancreatic cancer. Just then I noticed an elderly gentleman handing tools to someone working under his stalled car. That, someone, was Jimmy. 'Jimmy, what are you doing,' yelled. Jimmy dusted off his pants, "My cancer didn't tell me not to help others, Doc,' he said, before waving at the old man to start the car. The engine roared to life. The old man thanked Jimmy and drove off. Jimmy then got into his car and took off as well." The take-home message:  Kindness has no limits and no restrictions. 

A third example in Reader’s Digest came from Zena Hamilton of the United Kingdom:

When I was seven, my family drove to the Grand Canyon. At one point, as we drove along a busy and crowded highway, my favorite blanket flew out the window and was gone. I was devastated.  Soon afterward we stopped at a service station. Moping, I found a bench and was about to eat my sandwich when a biker gang pulled into the station. A huge frightening man with a gray-and-black beard approached us and asked if the blue Ford which we had parked nearby was ours.

Mom nodded affirmatively, at which time the biker pulled my blanket from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. Suddenly he didn't look frightening anymore. I repaid him the only way I knew how. I ran up to him, hugged him and gave him my blanket, and my world looked bright again.

Folks, good deeds like these are happening on a daily basis all over the world and they need to be shared. Events like impeachment and Iranian hostilities can wait for another day.

Now, to close with this: Two Army football players were given a special SAT test to meet their admission requirements to the Military Academy. Soon after the test began the first guy turned to the second guy and asked, "Old MacDonald had a what?" 

The other replied, "He had a farm."

The first guy asked, "How do you spell it?", to which the second guy replied, "E-I-E-I-0."

Have a wondrous day!