Once upon a time, a man saw an old woman standing on the side of the road and felt that she needed some help. Without wasting any time, he stopped right in front of her Mercedes.
He went and stood before the old woman with a very sweet smile, but he saw that the woman seemed worried. It was clear from her eyes that she was scared. The man introduced himself and said, "Ma'am, I'm Andy and I would like to help you. Why don't you just sit in the car and wait?"
There was relief on the woman's face on hearing this, and she went and sat in the car. The car tire was flat, Andy crawled under the car to fix it. As he was tightening the nut, the old woman rolled down the window and started talking to him. She told him that her name is Nora and she lived in St. Louis, and was just passing by this way. She couldn't thank Andy enough, for helping her out.
He just smiled and completed his work. The old woman said, "I owe you a lot and I am very grateful to you". She was ready to pay any amount in return for this help because she had already imagined all the terrible things that could happen, if he had not stopped to help her.
Andy lovingly replied, "I didn't help you to get paid. It wasn't a job for me, I was just helping someone in need. God knows there have been so many people who have lent me a helping hand in the past. But I've lived my whole life with honesty, and it never occurred to me to act any other way."
He continued, "If you really want to pay me, the next time you see someone in need just help them and give whatever help you can when they need it, and think of me."
Andy then waited until Nora left with her car. A few miles away while driving, the woman saw a small cafe and stopped there for a meal. It was a very nice looking restaurant. As she sat down at the table, the waitress came with a sweet smile and gave the old lady a towel so that she could wipe off her wet hair.
She saw the waitress was about eight months pregnant, but she never changed her attitude because of the stress and pain. The old woman was thinking that even though this woman did not have much, how could she think so much for a stranger. Then suddenly, she remembered Andy's words.
Nora, after she had finished her meal, paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress hurriedly went to the counter to change the hundred dollar bill, but by the time she came back the woman had left. Then she saw something written on the handkerchief kept on the table. Tears welled up in her eyes as she read what she had written in the handkerchief. The woman wrote: "You owe me nothing. Someone helped me once, the way I am helping you. If you really want to pay me, then help when someone is in need and don't let this chain of love end with you."
Under the napkin was another $100 bill.
That night when she (the waitress) came home from work and went to bed after having her dinner, she was thinking about the money as well as what the woman had written... and how the woman could have known that how much she and her husband needed this money? With the baby due next month, it was going to be tough.
She knew how worried her husband was, and as he was sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered, "Everything will be okay. I love you, Andy."
Every thought, every action, returns to us, this is the law of nature, the law of creation.
Be helpful always.
