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I've always admired those that show a freely given and open willingness to be kind or generous to others with equal consideration -- regardless of any personal perceptions of social position, financial stature or condition and especially when there are absolutely no expectations of recompense.
A few years ago, when I was volunteering in the ER, I had an elderly patient who was once one of the top executives at a prominent Pittsburgh bank. He emphatically expressed the importance of these same sentiments to me as an essential matter of his success. It made a valuable and everlasting impression on me.
It brought back some fond memories of my mom's sister and her husband. He ran a successful engineering company and they were rather well-to-do....at least in our modest hometown notions of such. Both of them were exceptionally gracious to anyone they knew -- whether of or not of means.
As kids, she would take us on tours of various Pittsburgh highlights: the zoo, Three Rivers Stadium, trolley car rides, the incline, etc. One of my fondest memories is the time she took us to the Pow-Wow Restaurant on Banksville Road. I wanted, of all things, a bleu-cheese sandwich. The waitress was more than puzzled and indicated that wasn't a menu item, but my aunt persisted and eventually, I got my bleu-cheese sandwich. The Pow-Wow is long gone, but certainly not what it meant to me.
* * *
I'm not much of a reader, and the only book I've ever read more than once is "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
Jim, a runaway slave with apparently few, or of any means, is truly the hero of the tale. The value of his love, friendship and wisdom for Huck is deeply threaded and woven into the color of the experiences they share.
* * *
"Soon as it was night out we shoved; when we got her out to about the middle we let her alone, and let her float wherever the current wanted her to; then we lit the pipes, and dangled our legs in the water, and talked about all kinds of things -- we was always naked, day and night, whenever the mosquitoes would let us -- the new clothes Buck's folks made for me was too good to be comfortable, and besides I didn't go much on clothes, nohow.
Sometimes we'd have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark -- which was a candle in a cabin window; and sometimes on the water you could see a spark or two -- on a raft or a scow, you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened"
~ From "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Mark Twain
A few years ago, when I was volunteering in the ER, I had an elderly patient who was once one of the top executives at a prominent Pittsburgh bank. He emphatically expressed the importance of these same sentiments to me as an essential matter of his success. It made a valuable and everlasting impression on me.
It brought back some fond memories of my mom's sister and her husband. He ran a successful engineering company and they were rather well-to-do....at least in our modest hometown notions of such. Both of them were exceptionally gracious to anyone they knew -- whether of or not of means.
As kids, she would take us on tours of various Pittsburgh highlights: the zoo, Three Rivers Stadium, trolley car rides, the incline, etc. One of my fondest memories is the time she took us to the Pow-Wow Restaurant on Banksville Road. I wanted, of all things, a bleu-cheese sandwich. The waitress was more than puzzled and indicated that wasn't a menu item, but my aunt persisted and eventually, I got my bleu-cheese sandwich. The Pow-Wow is long gone, but certainly not what it meant to me.
* * *
I'm not much of a reader, and the only book I've ever read more than once is "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
Jim, a runaway slave with apparently few, or of any means, is truly the hero of the tale. The value of his love, friendship and wisdom for Huck is deeply threaded and woven into the color of the experiences they share.
* * *
"Soon as it was night out we shoved; when we got her out to about the middle we let her alone, and let her float wherever the current wanted her to; then we lit the pipes, and dangled our legs in the water, and talked about all kinds of things -- we was always naked, day and night, whenever the mosquitoes would let us -- the new clothes Buck's folks made for me was too good to be comfortable, and besides I didn't go much on clothes, nohow.
Sometimes we'd have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark -- which was a candle in a cabin window; and sometimes on the water you could see a spark or two -- on a raft or a scow, you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened"
~ From "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Mark Twain
