What Goes Around, Comes Around TOUCHING STORY OF KINDNESS By Manny Piñol

A friend sent me this story titled “Irish Blessing,” reportedly based on a true story involving the great Englishman Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, both Nobel laureates.

While Churchill and Fleming really lived and made their marks in history and penicillin is undeniably considered as the greatest medical discovery of all ages, there is no way to validate the veracity of this anecdote.

But even if this story could not be independently validated, I am sharing this just the same because of the beautiful message it imparts.

The story’s moral lesson needs to be shared among the people of today, especially so because greed, materialism and self-centeredness are the plagues afflicting humanity now.

May we will learn from this story.

THE IRISH BLESSING

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 sparse surroundings. 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 Scottishfarmer 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 provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.’

And that he did.

Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, 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 same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? 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.

Sing like nobody’s listening.

Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH:

I hope it works…

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

And may you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you’re dead.

(Photo credits: Photos of Sir Alexander Fleming (left) and Sir Winston Churchill (right) were downloaded from the Nobelprize.org website.)