Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit of Hope, Healing and Forgiveness (Chicken Soup for the Soul) by Canfield Jack & Hansen Mark Victor & Lagana Tom

Author:Canfield, Jack & Hansen, Mark Victor & Lagana, Tom [Canfield, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781453282366
Publisher: Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing
Published: 2012-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

5

ON KINDNESS

If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

William Penn

The Gift of Friendship

Kindness is tenderness. Kindness is love, but perhaps greater than love. Kindness is good will. Kindness says, I want you to be happy.

Randolph Ray

My mother always told me, “If you have one true friend in your life, you are very lucky.” As a teenager, I never really understood that expression because I thought I had lots of friends. It wasn’t until much later I realized many of the people we call “friends” are really acquaintances who move in and out of our lives. As a mature woman, I must acknowledge I’m a very lucky person.

My best friend is also my roommate, companion, soul-mate and husband of twenty-seven years. Tom is always there to lift my spirits, to support me through the big struggles as well as day-to-day problems and to overlook my weaknesses. Each day he tells me how wonderful I am, how nice I look and how much he loves me. I know I am not the easiest person to live with, but he’s been putting up with me all these years, and I plan on basking in the warmth of his love and friendship for many years to come. However, I am writing this to acknowledge the existence of another wonderful friend. He, too, has become an important part of my life, and I am compelled to share our story.

Michael was a student in my third-grade class in 1973. He was bright, funny and full of life; he was one of my favorites that year. Tom and I took Michael and a couple of other boys camping that next summer because we enjoyed sharing our lives with children, and we had yet to have any of our own. Michael continued to be an excellent student and a leader, but once he left my school after the eighth grade, I didn’t keep track of his progress as the years flew by.

In the summer of 1993, I received a letter from Michael that both shocked me and broke my heart. He was facing a prison conviction and was soon to receive sentencing. Would I write a letter to the judge on his behalf? Although I didn’t know Michael as an adult, I did write a letter asking for compassion for this fine young man. As I mailed it, I wondered if I’d ever find out what happened.

A few months passed and Michael wrote again from a prison cell thanking me for my letter. It was a short note in which he informed me that his first chance for parole was the year 2002. I wrote Michael that same day expressing my concern for him. What could I do to help? Did he have the love and support of his family throughout this ordeal?

The letters began to flow on a regular basis.

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