This made me cry, it was so beautiful

Five
(5) lessons to make you think about the way we treat
people.

1
– First Important Lesson – Cleaning
Lady.

During
my second month of college, our professor
gave us a pop
quiz. I was a conscientious student
and had breezed
through the questions until I read
the last
one:

‘What is the first name of the woman who cleans
the school?’

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had
seen the
cleaning woman several times. She was
tall,
dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know
her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last
question
blank. Just before class ended, one student
asked if
the last question would count toward our quiz
grade.

‘Absolutely,’ said the professor. ‘In your
careers,
you will meet many people. All are significant.
They
deserve your attention and care, even if all you
do
is smile and say ‘hello.’

I’ve never forgotten
that lesson. I also learned her
name was
Dorothy.

1. • Second Important Lesson – Pickup in the
     Rain

One
night, at 11:3 0 p.m., an older African American
woman
was standing on the side of an Alabama highway
trying
to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had
broken down
and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she
decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man
stopped to help her, generally
unheard of in those
conflict-filled 60s.. The man
took her to safety, helped
her get assistance and
put her into a taxicab.

She
seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
address
and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
knock came on
the man’s door. To his surprise, a
giant console color TV
was delivered to his home. A
special note was
attached..

It read:
‘Thank you so much for
assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain
drenched not only my
clothes, but also my spirits. Then
you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to
my dying
husband’s bedside just before he passed away…
God
bless you for helping me and unselfishly
serving
others.’

Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King
Cole.

3
– Third Important Lesson – Always remember those who
serve.

In
the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a
10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a
table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of
him.

‘How much is an ice cream sundae?’ he
asked.

‘Fifty cents,’ replied the
waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his
pocket and
studied the coins in it.

‘Well, how
much is a plain dish of ice cream?’ he inquired.

By
now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress
was growing impatient.

‘Thirty-five cents,’ she
brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his
coins.

‘I’ll have the plain ice cream,’ he
said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the
bill on
the table and walked away. The boy finished the
ice
cream, paid the cashier and left. When the
waitress
came back, she began to cry as she wiped down
the
table. There, placed neatly beside the empty
dish,
were two nickels and five pennies..

You see,
he couldn’t have the sundae, because he had
to have
enough left to leave her a tip.

4
– Fourth Important Lesson. – The obstacle in Our
Path.

In
ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
roadway.
Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would
remove the huge rock. Some of the
king’s wealthiest
merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around
it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads
clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out
of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load
of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder,
the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move
the
stone to the side of the road. After much
pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After
the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he
noticed
a purse lying in the road where the boulder
had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a
note
from the King indicating that the gold was for
the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway.
The
peasant learned what many of us never
understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to
improve our condition.

5
– Fifth Important Lesson – Giving When it
Counts…

Many
years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a
hospital, I
got to know a little girl named Liz who
was suffering
from a rare & serious disease. Her only
chance of
recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her
5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the
same disease and had
developed the antibodies needed to
combat the
illness.. The doctor explained the situation
to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he
would
be willing to give his blood to his
sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before
taking a
deep breath and saying, ‘Yes I’ll do it if it
will
save her.’ As the transfusion progressed, he lay
in
bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all
did,
seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then
his
face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked
up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, ‘Will
I start to die right away’.

Being young, the little
boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going
to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to
save her but he had chosen to save her
anyway.