[Users] acts of kindness

[Daniel Sears]

wanted to post this on the boards, thaught it was nice. 
 
When everyone seemed to be delighting in the game of life, Frank Hempstead carried a feeling inside of him, as if he were benched on the sideline, a merespectator.
He had a habit of thinking about how he barely graduated from high school and how the people in his life got married, had children, landed good jobs, andmoved into nice homes. Some of his friends later divorced and remarried and, unlike Frank, they appeared to be maintaining a decent living.
He dwelled on the fact that he was unmarried, because he felt there was a significant other in his life that was just beyond his grasp. He would have likedto settle down and have a family of his own, but he resented the fact that he was a mere cab driver, struggling through life.
He was unable, or unwilling, to remove that feeling that life was passing him by, and that he was a failure. He was blind to what matters most in life:a person's self-worth, because through his self-pity, he failed to recognize that he was a kind person with deep compassion for the needs of others.
He failed to see his own goodness as he struggled through life, trying to get by from day to day!
He was also unable to remember the small acts of kindness that he bestowed on others, like the time he bought a homeless man a cup of coffee and allowedthe man to warm himself in his cab on a bitter cold February day. He rarely thought about the selfless act of picking up groceries for his elderly neighborand listening to her same stories each day.
"She has no one who will take time out of his day to check on her and listen to what she has to say," Frank thought to himself, as he was driving throughan intersection. With the exception of Frank, people overlooked his elderly neighbor's existence, and in turn, Frank was oblivious to the importance ofhis kindness and selfless acts.
On a cold November evening, after Frank paid for his gas, and as he was returning to his cab, he noticed a little old lady, sitting in the front seat.
"Hey, lady, you need to get in the back," he said to her. "How did you get in the front seat? I keep that front door locked for protection."
"I promise I won't hurt you," she said to him. "I don't hear too well.
That's why I got in the front."
"Where to?" Frank asked her.
"I'm not sure? I don't get out much," she said.
"Hey, lady, you're on the meter," he told her.
"That's fine. Why don't we just drive around," she said.
"Well, it's your money," he said. "Is there anything in particular you would care to see in our great city? Like maybe a club? Dance joint?"
he asked, with a little sarcasm in his voice.
"You dance, Frank?" she asked.
"How do you know my name?" he asked her.
"It is on your license on the dash board," she answered.
"Well, there is nothing wrong with your eyesight, lady," Frank said.
As he was driving down a busy street and toward a major intersection, she said to him, "Hey, Frank, don't go straight. Turn down the next street beforethe traffic light."
"Hey, lady, it is nothing but a little ally, there is nothing to see there but a few junkies," he said with a sarcastic voice.
"Just turn there," she said, pointing to the little ally on their left.
"Ok, lady, it's your money, but there is no way in hell I'm stopping on that street," he said. As he slowed to turn down the alley, the traffic light atthe next street's intersection turned green. A cement truck ran the light with two police cars chasing from behind.
"Did you see that, lady? If we had gone through that green light, that truck would have broad-sided us!" said Frank.
"You have to have eyes in the back of your head, Frank. Hey, you know what, I changed my mind. You can go straight ahead," she said.
"Whatever you say, lady," he said. "What's your name, and what do you do?"
"My name is Julia, and I have lived in this city for many, many years," she told him.
"Do you have family here?" Frank asked. "Because you said you don't get out much."
"I don't need to get out much, because there is a nice family living where I live. I have lived there since the late 20s," she said.
"You mean you moved here in your late 20s?" Frank asked.
"I was 19 when I got married in 1927, and my husband was a career army man, but we kept the house, and I stayed there to look after things,"
she said.
"Is your husband still around?" he asked her.
"Oh, no, he moved on in 1944, during the war," she said.
"I am sorry to here that, Julia. It's Julia, right?" he asked.
"Yes it is Julia," she said.
"So, who are you living with?" Frank asked.
"The people who bought my house," she said.
"Family?" Frank asked.
"No, I never saw them before in my life until they moved in. They can be awfully noisy at times. They have a young daughter who plays this god-awful music,but little Anthony is 4 years old and cute as a button. And little Jessica is 6 years old and so sweet and cute. This is their mother's second marriage,and she has a teenage daughter, Brigit, from her first marriage. She is the one who plays that noise, and that's why I needed to get out for awhile. Theyare good people and, for the most part, they don't even know I'm there most of the time," she explained to Frank.
"So let me get this straight. You sold your house to a family you don't know, and they're allowing you to live in their new house?"
Frank asked in a bewildered voice. "Where is your family? Can't you stay with them?"
"My granddaughter lives in the city, but I can't leave my house. I love that place, and I enjoy the company of little Anthony and Jessica. I visit my granddaughternow and then. She is so bright and beautiful. The only problem is that she gets so bogged down with her job that she overlooks the important things inlife, Frank."
"She sounds like a very independent person," said Frank.
"She needs another person in her life, Frank, not just all work."
"Well, I get up at 3 a.m. and drive this cab into the late evening, so I can pay my rent and eat," he said. "I'm sure your granddaughter is working to payher bills and get by."
"Frank she needs to live life, see the beauty in people and learn life's lessons by giving to others what she knows best," she said, with a soft and sinceretone of voice. "She needs someone like you, Frank."
"I'm a cab driver. She would have no interest in me, especially an ambitious woman like your granddaughter," he said.
"I know you, Frank. You are a good person, and she needs to learn from what you have to offer."
"From what I have to offer? What would that be?" Frank asked.
"What's in your heart, Frank," she said. "You can take me to 498 East Primrose Avenue."
"What's at that address?" Frank asked her.
"That's where my granddaughter lives."
When they arrived at the address, Julia asked Frank to check and see if anyone was home, while she waited in the cab. He went up and rang the doorbell,but no one answered. When he went back to the cab, Julia was gone!
"I can't believe that, she stiffed me!" he said to himself. As he was heading to return his cab to Monroe's Taxi service, he thought to himself, "She doesn'tseem like the type to cheat a cabbie out of a fare…"
He also wondered if she was putting him on, because he realized that if she was 19 in 1927, that would make her 96 years old, and she didn't look anywherenear that age.
When he arrived at Monroe's Taxi service, he noticed a stack of letters on the passenger seat where Julia had been sitting, and he took them with him.
"How was your evening?" asked one of the owners.
"OK, until this little old lady stiffed me," said Frank.
"So, granny stiffed you?" said one of the owners, laughing.
"She left these letters in the cab," said Frank.
"She's probably a senile old bat," said one of the owners.
"No, she was far from senile," Frank said.
Frank took the letters to the White Horse Tavern, a bar that he hadn't been to in a long time. He was curious about Julia, and he wanted to read the lettersto learn more about her. While at the bar, he opened one of the letters to read it, and the female bartender asked him what he would like to drink.
"Just any beer you've got on tap," Frank answered.
"What do you have there?" the bartender asked him, as she poured beer in a glass.
He explained to her about his experience with Julia and how she left the letters in his cab.
"Read one of them to me," the bartender said in a curious manner, as she set Frank's beer in front of him.
Frank noted that the letter he began to read was dated June 5, 1944.
"Wow, 1944…" said the bartender in a surprised voice.
Frank began to read the letter:
"My dearest Julia,
I am about to be deployed on an important mission. They tell us that it is a turning point in the war with Germany. Hopefully, the war in Europe will soonend, and I will be sent back home to you."
"World War II he's writing about," said Frank.
"Keep reading, Frank!" said the bartender.
Frank continued: "At this moment, you and I are angels, each missing a wing, yearning to embrace one another, in order to fly and soar to the heights ofeach other's love."
"God, why can't I meet a man like that?" asked the bartender. "That's so beautiful…"
"My gifts to you are not gems and flowers but loving thoughts. I truly understand that, just as diamonds are made under pressure, so, too, have the pressuresof this war strengthened my love for you. I yearn to hold you in my arms and feel your gentle touch in my heart."
The bartender was glued to Frank, awestruck by what he was reading to her.
"Do not worry. For this war will not make me an expert on, but rather an apprentice, in life. With each second, minute, and day passing, I am learning howto live, and soon I shall return to you, so our two souls can once again become whole."
"God, that is so damn beautiful…" said the bartender.
"The love in our hearts is like the angel's wings we fly for each other, but not for things. For our love, Julia, the enlightening words of the soul aremore precious than the diamonds and gold of the world."
"Man, I wish I could write like that," said Frank. He and the bartender read through the rest of the letters, a total of thirteen.
"These are the most beautiful things I have ever read. You have to return them to Julia," said the bartender. "God, why can't I meet someone like that inmy life?"
The next day, Frank went to the address that was on the envelopes and knocked on the door.
"Can I help you," asked a women.
"Yes. Last night, Julia was in my cab, and she left these letters on my front seat," he said to her.
"So," she said, as she was distracted by her 4-year-old son.
"You must be Anthony," Frank said to the little boy.
"How do you know his name?" asked the women.
"Julia told me," said Frank.
"Who the hell is Julia?" asked the women.
"You know Julia?" the little boy asked Frank.
"Yea, she told me about you and your sister, Jessica," Frank said.
"She sure loves you guys very much."
"Ok, who put you up to this? Was it Hank? Where is he? This is some kind of joke, isn't it?" asked the women, referring to her husband, Hank.
"What do you mean? I'm just trying to return Julia's letters," said Frank.
"Julia is someone my kids made up, or some sort of ghost. Because ever since we moved into this place, weird stuff has been happening," said the women.
"Like what?" Frank asked.
"The TV switches channels to Sesame Street without anyone touching the remote control. CD players turn off without anyone touching them. My two youngestkids have full conversations with someone they call Julia. They say she is an elderly woman, as if she is some sort of invisible nanny, and I'm beginningto think she's a ghost," said the women.
"Hey, Anthony, tell your friend Julia that I'll give these letters to her granddaughter," Frank said to the little boy.
"Are you for real?" asked Anthony's mother.
"I wouldn't worry about Julia. She cares for your family very much," Frank said to her.
"Come on, are you for real? This is not a joke," she said. "My house is haunted by a little old lady named Julia?"
Anthony began tugging on his mother's shirt to get her attention.
"What is it, sweetie?" she asked her son.
"Julia said she's not a little old lady," Anthony paused, as if he was listening to someone telling him what to say. "She said she doesn't feel a day over40."
"You see what I mean? This goes on all day between him and Jessica," she said to Frank.
Jessica, the woman's 6 year old daughter, walked into the living room.
"Come on into the living room," the women said to Frank.
Frank sat down on the couch next to Jessica. "So you must be Jessica," Frank said.
"Yep, and you're Frank, Julia's friend. She said you can give the letters to Kimberly, her granddaughter, " Jessica said to Frank.
"Mommy, Julia wants to watch Days of Our Lives on TV now," Anthony yelled to his mother.
"That's fine sweetie, don't put it on too loud," the women told her son. "Would you like a cup of coffee or something? I have cake if you would like some,"she asked.
"Thank you for your hospitality, but I really would like to return these letters," he said.
Frank told Anthony, "Tell Julia that the letters are the most beautiful things I have ever read. And you take care, Anthony." Then he said good-bye andleft.
Frank went to Julia's granddaughter's home, but he wasn't sure how to give the letters to her. "I'll just hand the letters to her and leave!
Maybe she won't be home," he thought to himself.
Frank nervously rang the doorbell, and a woman in her mid-to-late-twenties came to the door. She looked just as Julia described her the night before: youngand beautiful. She appeared sure of herself.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I have something that belongs to your grandmother, " Frank said to her.
"Both of my grandmothers died," she said.
"These are your grandmother Julia's letters that your Grandfather wrote her," he said. Frank handed her the letters, as he turned to walk away.
"What? You're just going to hand me letters my grandfather wrote and just leave?" she asked. "Why the big mystery?"
"They were left in my cab, and I had to return them," he answered.
She began to read the first letter, and at the same time, she asked Frank to come into her home. He sat down at her kitchen table, as she continued to readthe letters.
"They are the most beautiful letters I've ever read," he said. "My name is Frank."
"My name is Kimberly, and I never knew these letters existed," she said. "Someone left them in your cab?"
"Yeah," said Frank.
"Who?" she asked. "You can tell me."
"Julia," he said.
"Julia who?" Kimberly asked.
"Your grandmother," said Frank.
"Yeah, OK, what did she look like?" she asked him skeptically.
Frank said, "Well, for one thing, she is a big fan of Days of Our Lives."
"That's true. She watched it every day, and on the days she couldn't watch it, when she started getting sick, she asked me to tape the episodes," she said.
Frank explained to Kimberly the whole story of her grandmother being in his cab and taking him to Kimberly's home the night before.
"I was working late last night. That's why I wasn't here. I'm really skeptical about all of this, and I don't believe a word of it," she said to him.
"The people who are living in her home have two young children, who can see her and talk to her. Perhaps the children's mother will allow us to come over,"he said.
"I have their number. I'll call them," she said. "Excuse me for a moment, please."
Kimberly went into another room and came back into the kitchen a short time later.
"Meet me at my grandmother's home," she said with a stunned look on her face. "I spoke to Lucy Stetlock, the women who bought the house.
She said it's OK for us to go there now."
When Frank arrived at the house, Kimberly was already there, talking to Jessica and Anthony.
"She's glad you got the letters," Anthony told Kimberly.
Tears began to well up in Kimberly's eyes. "I didn't know about the letters. They're very beautiful," she said.
Jessica told Kimberly, "Julia wants you to know that Frank is a good person." She then paused as if listening to Julia and said, "You can save anythingin life but life itself."
Anthony then said, "How you spend your life is determined by your life's worth. Julia says you can measure a person's worth by what they give to others."
"Frank needs someone to help him realize his true worth. She told me to tell you that," Jessica told Kimberly.
"Julia wants me to tell Frank that the greatest achievements in a person's life are all the unremembered acts of kindness and love that were bestowed onothers," Jessica said.
Anthony began to tug on his mother's shirt.
"What, sweetie," Lucy asked her son.
"Julia said that Frank and Kimberly are each other's better half," Anthony said.
Anthony then turned to Frank and Kimberly. "Julia wants me to tell you that nothing goes unnoticed in life."
Jessica said to Frank and Kimberly, "Julia says you are now learning how to live, and you need each other to grow."
"Thank you," Kimberly said to Lucy, unable to hold back her tears.
"Your grandmother is a remarkable woman," Lucy said to Kimberly.
"So was my grandfather," said Kimberly.
Frank and Kimberly believed in Julia's message, and they dated. Frank went back to school, and with Kimberly's help, graduated from college.
He is now a renowned parapsychologist. Kimberly also went back to school and earned a law degree.
Frank understands more about himself and the countless possibilities that lie ahead, because he has Kimberly in his life.
They are continuing each day to learn, and they recognize that it's the small, subtle acts of loving kindness that determine the true worth of a person'scharacter. They also understand that they are truly each other's better half.
Frank and Kimberly are now married and have two children. One is named Julia, after Kimberly's grandmother, and the other is named Charles after her grandfather,who was killed at Normandy on June 6, 1944.
Author: Thomas F. O'Neill
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Make a mini you and download it into Windows Live Messenger
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