NOV 14, 19 .. TO FEEL GOOD .. DO GOOD
Mongolian Horse Racing Child
You may need a hanky by the time you get to the end of this post. Well I needed one!
You don’t think YOU can make a difference? Trust me, YOU, all of us, can make-a-difference.
Our (for all of our remaining years) difference-maker was a man (now deceased), Jerry Berkley, from Cleveland, Ohio.
Little did Patti and I know, that way back on October 5th 1994, it was a Wednesday night, as Patti and I attended a meeting of the King School Group, in Arkon, Ohio, that we were about to receive a momentous gift that, 25 years and counting later, we still cherish and carry with us. Now Patti and I share this gift with others as we’re now doing.
As Jerry Berkley spoke, he would periodically pause, be silent for a long moment, then utter the above words, TO FEEL GOOD .. DO GOOD. And then resume his talk.
Over and over and over again he repeated these words. The two of us will never forget him.
Maybe 20 years later, Patti and I were again in Arkon and met a man from Cleveland. In making small talk, I idly asked him if he by chance knew Jerry Berkley.
“Oh yes!” he replied going on to say, “Jerry is a good friend of mine. He’s in the hospital in serious condition.”
We then told this gentleman the above story and how much effect Jerry’s words had upon our lives.
He asked if he could pass our message along to Jerry and that it would mean a lot to him. Of course we enthusiastically said yes. IF I could go back in time, I swear Patti and I would drive to Cleveland, find Jerry, and thank him in person.
Today, this afternoon, I was in our local Post Office.
I was standing at the near end of the below counter.
I’d carefully been going through post cards picking out special ones to send to YOU. And, among three small stacks of five post cards each, were five like the one you’ve seen at the top of this post.
To my left was a small Mongolian girl. Pick an age. Maybe she was six or seven years old. Her mother was at the counter. This child was transfixed, mesmerized, intently watching my each and my every movement.
Then shyly, gently, timidly she reached out and picked out one of the above post cards. She held it, looked at it, looked at her mother, looked at me, again studied the Mongolian Horse Racing Child post card. She then, after at least a full minute of cherishing this post card, she returned it to the pile.
I paid for my post cards and here he came, Mister Jerry Berkley, Cleveland, Ohio ..
TO FEEL GOOD .. DO GOOD
Even though I was now zipped up and ready to leave, she was still looking intently at me.
TO FEEL GOOD .. DO GOOD
I picked out one..
And I handed it to her.
Little did I know, little did I realize, that all of the postal patrons, including the postal clerk behind the desk, had been noticing the little girl and me.
TOO FEEL GOOD .. DO GOOD
God Bless Your Soul .. God Rest Your Soul .. Mister Jerry Berkley, Cleveland, Ohio.
Cap and Patti
- NOV 13, 19 .. MORE MINOR COSMETIC SURGERY ON A BOBBSEY
- NOV 16, 19 .. DOES THE SHADOW KNOW? .. I SURE DON’T ..
6 thoughts on “NOV 14, 19 .. TO FEEL GOOD .. DO GOOD”
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Jerry Berkley is one of the greatest gifts we have been given along our path. This post, and envisioning what happened at the post office today, touched my heart to the point of overflowing tears. TO FEEL GOOD, DO GOOD. Five words. Monumental message. I can, at this moment, picture Jerry standing in front of that room of about 100 people and imparting this way of approaching life. WOW then, WOW now! Love, Patti
YOU were there. I was there. We did not imagine this. Mezmerizing. We were in the front, up close and personal as well. I don’t remember: Did we have the presence of mind to go up to him after his talk and thank him? I honestly can’t recall. Or did his phenomenal message gradually sink into our minds as we looked back at the meeting? Whew then. Whew now. I’m thankful that later, when we were at Dr. Bob’s home in Arkon, and met the man from Cleveland who knew Jerry, that at least then we thanked Jerry. Thanks for you help with this post. Love .. Cap
Hi Cap and Patti,
Five SHORT words, monumental meaning. In 2019 we are awash in words– radio, television, newsprint, email, Twitter tweets, internet sites, cell phone text messages, words words words. Sadly, most of the words bashing us relentlessly all day every day are manipulation words: buy this, think that, take this action, do it right now. Very few words in the ocean engulfing us are aimed at making real human connection– hello, this is me, how are you?
A most remarkable thing about the post office encounter you describe is that it all happened with NO WORDS. Heart to heart connection, no words at all. It can be so simple, doing good, and feeling good. Why do we use words to make things so complicated?
Thanks for the uplifting, thought-inspiring share.
Danny
PS: Great use of photos, too!
Thank You Danny for an amazing comment. Both of us so appreciate you following along as your time permits. I’d not thought about the fact that NO words were spoken. NO words were spoken because they could not speak English and I could not speak Mongolian. However, had we been able to communicate, I’m sure I would have spoken : “Would you like to have this post card?” .. “Is this the first post card you’ve ever seen?” So happy you thought this post was uplifting, thought-inspiring. Cap and Patti
Cap and Patti – Thank you for sharing. I have three grandchildren who will be visiting at Christmas. I will share this lovely text with them. Five words that I pray will make a difference in their young lives.
Fondly,
Kay
Thank You so very much Kay for taking the time, and going to the effort, to leave your comment for Patti and me. Very VERY (life changing) Special Wisdom. These five words CAN make a difference and I hope this will be the case with your grandchildren. Much Love .. Patti and Cap