Posted by Joe (205.169.199.24) on July 02, 1999 at 10:46:57:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you on this sight for the words of encouragement and genuine empathy. I cannot begin to tell you all how much the quality of my life has improved since getting to know some of you and knowing you see life through a similar set of eyes. I thought this story was fitting. Thanks to all. Hope I'm not using too much space.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while
trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from
a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his
waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free
himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and
terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's
sparsesurroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced
himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay
you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied,
waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door
of the family hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.
"Yes," the farmer replied proudly. I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and
give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll
grow to a man you can be proud of."
And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.Mary's
Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout
the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved
him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His
son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.