As a Man Soweth  

Posted by: Nurul

****This is my favourite story from the 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul...
Enjoy it...


When I was in junior high, the eight-grade bully punched me in the stomach. Not only did it hurt and make me angry, but the embarrassment and humiliation were almost intolerable. I wanted desperately to even the score! I planned to meet him by the bike racks the next day and let him have it.

For some reason, I told my plan to Nana, my grandmother - big mistake. She gave me one of her hour-long lectures (that woman could really talk). The lecture was a total drag, but among other things, I vaguely remember her telling me that I didn't need to worry about him. She said, "Good deeds beget good results, and evil deeds beget bad results." I told her, in a nice way, of course, that I thought she was full of it. I told her that I did good things all the time, and all I got in return was "baloney!" (I didn't use that word.) She stuck to her guns, though. She said, "Every good deed will come back to you someday, and every bad thing you do will also come back to you."

It took me 30 years to understand the wisdom of her words. Nana was living in a board-and-care home in Laguna Hills, California. Each Tuesday, I came by and took her out to dinner. I would always find her neatly dressed and sitting in chair right by the front door.
 
I vividly remember our very last dinner together before she went into 
the convalescent hospital. We drove to a nearby simple little family-owned restaurant. I ordered pot roast for Nana and a hamburger for myself. The food arrived and as I dug in, I noticed that Nana wasn't eating. She was just staring at the food on her plate. Moving my plate aside, I took Nana's plate, placed it in frot of me, and cut her meat into small pieces. I then placed the plate back in front of her. 

As she very weakly, and with great difficulty, forked the meat into her mouth, I was stuck with a memory that brought instant tears to my eyes. Forty years previously, as a little boy sitting at the table, Nana had always taken the meat on my plate and cut it into small pieces so I could eat it.

It had taken 40 years, but the good deed had been repaid. Nana was right. We reap exactly what we sow. "Every good deed you do will someday come back to you."

What about the eight-grade bully...???
He ran into the ninth-grade bully....

                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                 Mike Buettell


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This story really change my perspective...At first, I really wanted to do something for someone who have done the bad thing to me...not once, but twice he did the same thing after all the things that I've done for him...I'm very upset and most of all, angry...but after reading this story, I think that if I did the same thing to him as a revenge, I'll be just like him...and I don't want to be like that...I have made a decision to forgive him and all the people who had done bad things to me...I just pray that one day, they will realize what they have done...and like Nana said....

"Every good deed will come back to you someday, and every bad thing you do will also come back to you."

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .

1 orang rajin komen...

hehehe..suke gak cter ni...mmg tersentuh ati...dapat mematikan niat ati yg jht untk membalas dendam kat someone...hehehe...cter ini tlh disebarkan kpd kak ina...sangat tersentuh...hehehe...bgs la...ni nsht dari protege motivator..."tak rugi pun buat baik."hehehe...pinjam ayt abg yunus..takpe...in the nutshell what u give,u get back!peace!!!!

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