Letter: There's no telling what power of kindness can do

Forty years ago a little 7-year-old girl was dying in a San Diego hospital. She was the victim of a home fire. I discovered this remote article from the Las Vegas Sun dated Dec. 26, 1958, telling how this child did not get her Christmas wish -- to be home by Christmas.

Her wounds were not sufficiently healed at that time to make that wish come true. However, she did receive an infinitely greater gift. She received the will to live.

The article tells how this little girl, with more than 45 percent of her body burned, stopped responding to treatment. Doctors had abandoned hope for the girl's recovery. When news stories went out about her critical condition, she started receiving letters and presents from well-wishers.

A week later her burns began to heal. The doctors said that it was nothing they and done. She just suddenly decided she wanted to live.

The child's mother said, "Had all these wonderful people waited until Christmas to write letters and send gifts, then she might not even have lived until then."

This small article that I accidentally found hidden away unknowingly in microfilm was meant to resurface and once again remind us of its potent message.

By our kindness to others, or lack of it, we sometimes unknowingly have the power to help someone heal or to plunge them into despair and hopelessness.

Had all these people waited ... it would have probably been too late. How many people have we encountered in our lives where we could possibly have made a difference merely by saying a kind word, a friendly smile of encouragement?

I'm not talking about giving money to organized charities, I'm talking about being a truly decent, honest, compassionate human being.

Let's be true man and women now so we don't have to look back with regret asking ourselves: "Why did we wait?"

Robert Morrow

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