Carl....

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in ourneighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well. Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. Thelone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he maynot make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with itsever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity. When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteersfor caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded inhis characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up. He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had alwaysfeared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gangmembers approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked,

'Would you like a drink from the hose?'

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, 'Yeah, sure,'with a malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's arm,throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousingeverything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and hiswallet, and then fled.

Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on hisbad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came runningto help him. Although the minist er had witnessed the attack from his window,he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it. 'Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?' the minister kept asking as hehelped Carl to his feet. Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head.

'Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday.'

His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick upthe hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water. Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked,

'Carl, what are you doing?'

'I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately,' camethe calm reply. Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the ministercould only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threatwas unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose. This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his handand drenched him head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered offdown the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one anotherlaughing at the hilarity of what they had just done. Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth givingsun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering. The summer was quickly fading into fall, Carl was doing sometilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer to rmentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

'Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time.' The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarredhand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from hispocket and handed it to Carl.

'What's this?' Carl asked.

'It's your stuff,' the man explained. 'It's your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet.'

'I don't understand,' Carl said. 'Why would you help me now?'

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease.

'I learned something from you,' he said. 'I ran with that gang andhurt people like you . We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate' He stopped for a moment. 'I couldn't sleep after we stole yourstuff, so here it is back.'

He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. 'That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess.'

And with that, he walked off down the street. Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride who still smiled back athim from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter.

Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn'tknow sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church. The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said,

'Do your best and make your gardenas beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden.'

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: 'Personneeded to care for Carl's garden..' The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one daywhen a knock was heard at the minister's office door. Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooedhands holding the flyer.

'I believe this is my job, if you'll have me,' theyoung man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returnedthe stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said,

'Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honour him.' The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done..In that time, he went to college, got married, and became aprominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it. One day he approached the new minister and told him that hecouldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile,

'My wife just had a babyboy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday.'

'Well, congratulations!' said the minister, as he was handed thegarden shed keys. 'That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?'

'Carl,' he replied..

~

GOOD FRIENDS ARE LIKE ANGELS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEE THEM TO KNOW THEY ARE THERE

~

'The happiest people don't HAVE the best of everything.....they just MAKE THE BEST of everything.'