You can find your own way for helping your neighbor as yourself

Sunday, 10/29/17

There are many many ways in which you might go about loving your neighbor.  The first reading suggests ways of aiding people who are very hard up. Let me tell  two stories about helping in other ways. 

I can remember a special instances from my years in Korea. A man in desperate conditions came to me when I was in such difficulties that I had just sold my radio to make ends met. Wanting to help the guy, I went to a number ten can of peanut butter that a GI had left with me, so I gave the man half of it I had spooned into a smaller jar.  

Watching the man going off delighted with his peanut butter, I learned something special. The man had lost the hope he needed to carry on,  and the jar of peanut butter restored his hope.

An altogether different instance  happened when I was twelve years old, but still small enough to get into movies as a child. The big theaters down town cost fifteen cents, and I had twenty-five cents that would give me the fifteen, along with two nickels for the bus fare. I guy who sat next me, introduced himself as Roger, and he asked if I had money for something to chew on during the movie. When I said I hadn't, he gave me a dime. It gave me a lovely packet of butterscotch caramels. 

Unexpected help can sometimes be special.