child

i recall one my mother told us about a traveller who was approached by an old woman with terrible cataracts on her eyes. the woman asked the traveller for help, and the man averted his eyes.

then another man came along and was approached by the old woman. she asked him to clean her eyes, and even though he found the task unpleasant, he did as she asked. then, miraculously, the scales fell from the old woman's eyes and she became young and beautiful. the man married her and became wealthy and prosperous.

it is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know. --nelson mandela, long walk to freedom