Hang in there with me on this tale of supreme human kindness.
I stopped today on a bike ride to check out the little green two-wheeler held by the guy in the orange shirt in this foto. The bike was on its kickstand in the owner's driveway on Holy Name Drive in Medina. Price "tag" said 10-bucks and I thought: good thing to have for visiting grand kids Oliver, Duncan, Hugo and Isabela who might want to ride when they get home to Poppina and me.
So I gave the owner the ten-spot. As I was leaving a white pick-up arrived and out stepped a man from Morris, MN who had his eye on the same bike. "I live next to a Mexican family up near the North Dakota state line," said the man. "And my little neighbor friend doesn't have a bike to ride with all the other kids. So I said to myself I'll take the little green two-wheeler home as a surprise."
Hearing this I thought: wow, what a generous, considerate guy. HE can have the bike, not me after all. So we talked to the owner, the sale was consummated and, I'm sure, a very happy, surprised young boy is cruisin' around on two wheels he never dreamed he'd get.
Moral of the story: neighbors do neighborly things, whether we realize it or not. Self interest is trumped some times by service to others. Thoughtfulness is not dead. Generous hearts abound.
If somehow the one-to-one kindness I witnessed today could trickle down to the institution of government at all levels, then the world be a much happier, kinder, gentler place to live. How fortunate I was this afternoon to be part of a lesson in civics.
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