Karma

[Caelus]

I have an 80 year old neighbor, a generally foul and disagreeable fellow with no friends; his wife died about 10 years back and the doctors took his driver's license about 5 years ago. I took it upon myself to be his chauffeur, appointment setter, tech support, handyman, etc; I spend about 20 hours a week with him and while he does buy me lunch or dinner when we are out and about he doesn't really show much appreciation and usually has something to complain about.

Today he really surprised me. As I was taking him to the eye doctor he mentioned wanting to go to officemax and I'm ok with that, it's only about 25 minutes away and I say "that's cool, maybe I'll check out some keyboards, several of my keys are crapping out (Razer Tarantula which I bought the first day they were in stock 3 years ago)".

By the time we got to officemax, after many stops he needed to make, my back was hurting too much so when he asked if I was going in I said "no, my back hurts too much (I'm only 42 but have some pretty bad arthritis)". When he comes out I ask him if he found everything and says "yes, and this is for you" and hands me a Logitech Cordless Wave Desktop Pro! I was floored.

Now the moral of this is 1, no matter how disagreeable someone is when a neighbor is in need you just gotta do a good turn even with no thought of any kind of compensation and 2, more importantly, show a person kindness and compassion long enough and you may make them a better person.

Don't get me wrong, I greatly appreciate my new mouse and keyboard but what makes me feel really good is after 5 years this guy does something out of the blue to show his appreciation. I've never once thought "this is a burden too great", I've never given up hope on him.

I don't think I am alone on this in this community as I have never seen another MMORPG that had this mind set, EnB will aways be the best online community I have ever been a part of in Live and I am sure here.

Fair winds and following seas mates.

[Gamera]

Good deeds often follow good deeds. I'm happy to see that your neighbor found some way of showing his appreciation for all you do.

Me personally, this reminded me of a story. Ever read Leaf by Niggle? You'd like it.

[Daywolf]

Or do unto others as you would have others do unto you?

I have (or had) back problems too. Totally blew a disc (not the same but I know pain), floored for three years since I passed on the operation (been 4yrs now next month). Those operations can go bad, even requiring multiple operations and life long pain. Letting it heal naturally has a better chance of a full recovery at some point though, which thankfully seems to be the case. But that first year was hell, the occasional feeling of like bone grinding on bone, ick! If you ever had a local to the spine on an operating table, and you felt the needle dig into your spine with a shock, that was the daily pain.

Yeah, ten years after the death of his wife, he is probably still adjusting, sometimes it drags on. I wouldn’t judge him on account of being grumpy, he just needs friends. Really cool you are being that for him, you can’t put a price or gift on the worth of friendship. Safe and comfortable travels to y:)