Goodness Personified

So many times in my life, when I have been stressed or down in the dumps, something always seems to happen to reinforce my belief in the goodness of people. Today was no exception.

As I’ve talked about before, the main obstacle to my adoption of Johnny was getting a wheelchair accessible van. I’ve struggled for many weeks now trying to figure out how I was going to afford an exorbitantly priced vehicle, but a vehicle I believed I needed to have. Yes, most accessible vans can be financed for 10 years. But the thought of paying about $600 a month for the next ten years appalls me.

I believe I have worked out a solution, a solution that doesn’t involve purchasing a van. But the person who contacted me today didn’t know that. Her actions and desire to help me touched my heart and truly did affirm that deep inside most people is a heart of gold.

Linda is a person for whom I have designed and managed web pages for almost 10 years now. Interestingly, she and I have never met and never spoken. All our communication has been through email. One day last week, she indicated in one of her emails that she was late getting me some information for a web site because she was having a bad day. I empathized with her because I too was having a pretty rotten day. She told me her story and I told her mine – again, all through email.

I’m not going to share her story but mine you’ve already heard, and it was about my feelings of despair because I couldn’t figure out a transportation solution for bringing Johnny home. We bonded over our moments of unhappiness and I believe both of us felt a little better just for having shared our stories. That was that…or so I thought.

Today when I arrived at work, I had an email from Linda. She asked me to call her if I could. I was quite surprised but immediately picked up the phone. She told me about visiting her mother in West Virginia over the weekend, and learning that a family that attended the same church as her mother had lost a child the previous week. The child was 12 years old and had, in Linda’s words, severe handicaps.

Linda then went on to tell me that the family wanted to honor their son’s memory by sharing all his specialized equipment with other families who had similar children. And Linda immediately thought of me and my need of a van. She called to tell me this morning that the van was available if I wanted it.

Linda didn’t know that I had already made other transportation arrangements, but I was so very touched that this person to whom I had never spoken and still have not ever met, would do something like this for me. That is the beauty of human goodness, and when it touches my life, I feel like I am bathed in a shining, warm, golden light.

I have been blessed in my life to have crossed paths with some very special people. Linda and the mother who has lost her dear son have now been added to that list, and I hope they know just how much brighter my life is for having met them. That mother has indeed honored her son's memory. And all the people with whom she shares her son's equipment will always know that.

And Linda, thank you, thank you so very much for caring.