You Owe Me?

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Even after all this time
The Sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

--Hafiz

A Special Message to Fattemeh and Faranak:

The story of your long-term friendship touched my heart. Cherish your friends for they are the breath of life, itself. We learn from our friends, and can practice sympathy, kindness, concern, love and all those desirable human qualities on them. They accept our faults and still love us. What more can we ask from life? Here is a story I wrote about a friend I had many years ago.

Affection and caring is shown in many ways. When my two children were babies, Phyllis was my next door neighbor. As it is for most young mothers, it was a terrifically busy time for me. Phyllis was farther along in the mothering game; her children were teenagers. She was one of those super-kind people whose purpose in life is to do good, and I became embarrassed at how often she dropped goodness into my lap: a cup of tea here, a piece of pie there, babysitting for an hour, or lending me her children to entertain my babies. Phyllis was a Godsend in those busy days.
Beset with a vicious case of asthma, she never stopped using her time to the best advantage for both friends and family; there was never time to feel sorry for herself. I began to feel badly about the uneven balance of our friendship, and mentioned that I could never repay her for all she did.
Phyllis shared with me her secret of "payback", and now let me share it with you: "You don't have to pay me back," she said. "When you're able, you can lend someone else a hand and make their days easier. That's the way God's work is done." She was so right; God’s work is done in one random act of kindness at a time.
There have been three women in my life who have caused me to wish I could become more like them, and Phyllis was one. Though long gone to us physically, her lessons on life live on in my heart and I never worry about being paid back, or, on the other hand, of accepting an act of kindness with a simple, "Thank you."

Thank you, my friends in Iran, for being there.

Sue