Today I am launching a series of essays that highlight what I think matters most in life. Someday it may become a book, but for now I am content to document, at least in initial form, the principles that motivate my thinking, actions, and perceptions. I do this for three primary reasons: 1- I expect it to be therapeutic to some degree as I attempt to validate important drivers in my life; 2- I have children and grandchildren that I am still attempting to help with life’s greatest challenges; and, 3- I am looking to learn if others share this same set of principles or do they see it differently.

I intend to add occasionally to the essays. I welcome feedback from any and all.

Thomas M. Quigley

Friday is one of my wife’s volleyball days.  She meets a group of friends for 2 to 3 hours of recreational volleyball. She has enjoyed this sport for years and is not yet ready to give it up.  Last Friday one of the women in her group told her a most amazing story.

One of the women on her team was getting the kids ready to leave the house for a meeting when the doorbell rang.  A man introduced himself and said he had just run out of gas down the road from her house.  He asked if there was anyway she might have some lawnmower gasoline that he could borrow to get to a service station.  She was in a hurry and said “I’ll open the garage door.  There is a can of gas against the wall go ahead and use it then simply return the can.”  With that she closed the door and did not even think about the gas can until she returned home.

When she drove in the driveway she noticed the garage door was open.  Then she remembered about the gas can and the stranger requesting help.  She looked around to discover that the lawn had been mowed and edged, the gas can was full of gas and in its usual resting place against the garage wall.  She was both surprised and shocked.

It seems the stranger had taken it upon himself to more than repay the gasoline he used.

Do you think that act of kindness would happen in your community?