:Sunday - Carl...tonya boo hoo tear jerker

[Guest guest]

Carl

=====

Carl was a quiet man.

He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile

and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for

over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning.

The sight of him walking down the street often worried us.

He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII.

Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he

may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with

its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers

for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence,

he responded in his characteristically un-assuming manner.

Without fanfare, he just signed up. He was well into his 87th

year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened.

He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang

members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate

him, he simply asked, " Would you like a drink from the hose?

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said,

" Yeah, sure " , with a malevolent little smile.

As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's

arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the

ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole

his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled.

Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his

bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister

came running to help him. Although the minister had witnessed

the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to

stop it.

" Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt? " the minister kept asking as

he helped Carl to his feet. Carl just passed a hand over his

brow and sighed, shaking his head.

" Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday. "

His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up

the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, " Carl, what

are you doing? " I've got to finish my watering. It's been very

dry lately, " came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister

could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and

place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their

threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from

his hose. This time they didn't rob him.

They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to

foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation

of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls

and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of

what they had just done. Carl just watched them.

Then he turned toward the warm giving sun, picked up his hose,

and went on with his watering. The summer was quickly fading

into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by

the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell

into some evergreen branches.

As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall

leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him.

He braced himself for the expected attack. " Don't worry old man,

I'm not gonna hurt you this time. "

The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and

scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled

a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.

" What's this? " Carl asked.

" It's your stuff, " the man explained. " It's your stuff back.

Even the money in your wallet. "

" I don't understand, " Carl said. " Why would you help me now? "

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease.

" I learned something from you, " he said. " I ran with that gang

and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old

and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did

something to you instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried

to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You

kept showing love against our hate. "

He stopped for a moment. " I couldn't sleep after we stole your

stuff, so here it is back. "

He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more

there was to say. " That bag's my way of saying thanks for

straightening me out, I guess. "

And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened

it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his

wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo.

He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back

at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people

attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the

minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know sitting

quietly in a distant corner of the church.

The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life.

In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, " Do your best

and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never

forget Carl and his garden. "

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: " Person

needed to care for Carl's garden. "

The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until

one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door.

Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and

tattooed hands holding the flyer.

" I believe this is my job, if you'll have me, " the young man

said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had

returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that

Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around.

As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said,

" Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him. "

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended

the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done.

In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a

prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his

promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he

thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he

couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy

and happy smile, " My wife just had a baby boy last night, and

she's bringing him home on Saturday.

" Well, congratulations! " said the minister, as he was handed the

garden shed keys. " That's wonderful! What's the baby's name? "

" Carl, " he replied.

~Author Unknown~

Thank you for inviting MountainWings in your mailbox.

See you tomorrow.

*****************************************************************

Please help support MountainWings with a Donation.

To Subscribe, Un-Subscribe, Get a Book or T-Shirt, Tell-A-Friend

about MountainWings, Ask Advice, Rate an Issue, Read Past Issues,

Submit a MountainWings Moment or Prayer Request,

or to read Today's Issue in larger easier to read type:

Go To: http://www.mountainwings.com

You are subscribed as: charleach@...