I became aware of a young man [late 40s] who had lost his job due to the increasingly debilitating effects of diabetes. To produce some income for his family he hired himself out as a general handyman. He had some practical skills particularly with electricity and heating. Consequently, my sister and I invited him for a morning's light work.
He arrived punctually and proceeded thru the tasks we asked of him. He was clearly experienced and worked very efficiently. As he ended his work I went to my room to get some cash to settle up. Normally I would have written a check but I did not want him to go thru the extra time it would take for him to convert it to cash in hand. While doing this, I had the thought that as a working man he might be able to use a decent pocket knife. I chose a very nice German model.
After giving him his payment we chatted for a while. When he eventually got up to leave, I made some remark about how I thought a working man should always have a good knife available and then gave him the knife. No fuss about it. I simply slipped it to him as we walked to the door. He paused and studied the knife carefully. I was taken aback as I saw a couple of tears roll down his cheeks. He felt he needed to apologize for choking up and then explained that in years past, when times were better for him, he had collected pocket knives. He had none anymore, but now he did.
The last I heard, he is doing poorly. Kindly keep him in your prayers. Thanks.
