MaggieD
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2010
- Messages
- 43,244
- Reaction score
- 44,664
- Location
- Chicago Area
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Moderate
My Aunt Marie became a nun when she was maybe 17 years old. Oh, I don't know the particulars of what she actually became at that age, a Novitiate? Is that what it's called? She was in a convent in Chicago for 10 years, I think, not having taken her final vows. At age 27, her father (my grandfather, who was a troubled man) tried to commit suicide and failed. He tried to shoot himself in the head . . . did that . . . but apparently the gun moved or something and he was seriously, but not fatally, wounded. He recovered. Something about that signaled to my aunt that her work in the church was done, and she left the convent. (I wish I knew more about that now.)
Fast-forward to my close relationship with her when I was in my late teens/early 20's. Her husband worked nights, and I spent a great deal of time with her playing cards, visiting, etc. One evening she talked about "charity". Her opinion was that lack of charity in spirit, deeds and pocketbook was the greatest sin one could commit. She believed that one's generosity came back to them in many different ways.
Fast-forward to yesterday. I had two errands to run. On my way there, I passed Woodfield Mall. There was a guy in fatigues holding up a homeless sign. Now I usually (but not always) will donate two or three dollars, MAYBE $5, but this time, for some reason, I pulled out a $20 and gave it to him. He was quite obviously moved.
Fast-forward to my errands:
#1 -- Go to the DMV and get my license renewed; always a hassle in/around Chicago. When I got there, it was a "light day." I was in and out in 15 minutes. My driver's license photo didn't look like a mugshot. I got a guy who quite obviously loved his job who made me laugh. AND I don't have to wear glasses to drive anymore. 15 minutes in the DMV? Unheard of.
#2 -- Go to see if Lexus has time to change the oil in my car. See if they can possibly do the recall fix in short order. And get an estimate to repair the control panel on the driver's side that will no longer let me roll down the back passenger-side window from the front seat. The service tech said that, if I needed a new control panel, it'd be about $560 for parts and labor. But he said he'd never seen that happen to one of their cars. (My car's 7 years old.) He went out there once to have a look, fiddled around, came back and said, "Well, I'll have the service guys look at it." Then he had to go to another area to pick up the printed copy of the work order, and I saw him jump into my car again. When he came back, he said, "Well!! I just saved you $560. It's fixed." Apparently, there's some kind of re-initialization one can do to the control panel. And that worked. He told me the oil change and recall fix would take about an hour-and-a-half. I agreed to wait. It took 45 minutes.
I didn't think about this until later in the evening. Makes me wonder if Aunt Marie was right. Good things come back at people who are "charitable". I've been "generous" many OTHER times in my life, but this cause/effect is hard to ignore.
I know it sounds weird, but I wonder what your beliefs are...
Edit: Just posted and saw how long this is . . . if I see tldr, I'll understand.
Fast-forward to my close relationship with her when I was in my late teens/early 20's. Her husband worked nights, and I spent a great deal of time with her playing cards, visiting, etc. One evening she talked about "charity". Her opinion was that lack of charity in spirit, deeds and pocketbook was the greatest sin one could commit. She believed that one's generosity came back to them in many different ways.
Fast-forward to yesterday. I had two errands to run. On my way there, I passed Woodfield Mall. There was a guy in fatigues holding up a homeless sign. Now I usually (but not always) will donate two or three dollars, MAYBE $5, but this time, for some reason, I pulled out a $20 and gave it to him. He was quite obviously moved.
Fast-forward to my errands:
#1 -- Go to the DMV and get my license renewed; always a hassle in/around Chicago. When I got there, it was a "light day." I was in and out in 15 minutes. My driver's license photo didn't look like a mugshot. I got a guy who quite obviously loved his job who made me laugh. AND I don't have to wear glasses to drive anymore. 15 minutes in the DMV? Unheard of.
#2 -- Go to see if Lexus has time to change the oil in my car. See if they can possibly do the recall fix in short order. And get an estimate to repair the control panel on the driver's side that will no longer let me roll down the back passenger-side window from the front seat. The service tech said that, if I needed a new control panel, it'd be about $560 for parts and labor. But he said he'd never seen that happen to one of their cars. (My car's 7 years old.) He went out there once to have a look, fiddled around, came back and said, "Well, I'll have the service guys look at it." Then he had to go to another area to pick up the printed copy of the work order, and I saw him jump into my car again. When he came back, he said, "Well!! I just saved you $560. It's fixed." Apparently, there's some kind of re-initialization one can do to the control panel. And that worked. He told me the oil change and recall fix would take about an hour-and-a-half. I agreed to wait. It took 45 minutes.
I didn't think about this until later in the evening. Makes me wonder if Aunt Marie was right. Good things come back at people who are "charitable". I've been "generous" many OTHER times in my life, but this cause/effect is hard to ignore.
I know it sounds weird, but I wonder what your beliefs are...
Edit: Just posted and saw how long this is . . . if I see tldr, I'll understand.