Sharon 3

I saw Sharon again today. I brought her a bag with what I hoped were useful items: a warm wool sweater, slippers, shoes, some scarves. My sons had also taken two dollars each in quarters out of their piggy banks to give to her. But all that paled next to the note that my son Matthew wrote to her:"Dear Sharon,I hope you have a long, wonderful life, with good food and a warm place to sleep.Matthew"He drew a picture of a house, with one person giving a gift to another. In front of the house was sand and ocean.She stared at the picture and didn't speak for a moment, then told me to hug my boys for her.I told her she was an inspiration to me. That I would not have her grace if I were living under the same conditions. She told me she thought I would. I told her I thought not.Then she said, "you never know how kindness will affect the world. It's like dropping a pebble in a pond, it ripples out in ways you may never guess or know."She's right. I don't know. I'm not sure it matters. There's so much sadness and suffering in the world, it seems inhuman to close your heart, shut your eyes, and just go on your way.