David Bruce - The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 4, 250 Anecdotes

By David Bruce

Dedicated with Respect toMimi Hartand Tom Mantey

Copyright 2007 and written by Bruce D.Bruce

SMASHWORDS EDITION

All anecdotes are stated in my own words toavoid plagiarism.

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TABLE OFCONTENTS

The doing of good deeds is important. As afree person, you can choose to live your life as a good person oras a bad person. To be a good person, do good deeds. To be a badperson, do bad deeds. If you do good deeds, you will become good.If you do bad deeds, you will become bad. To become the person youwant to be, act as if you already are that kind of person. Each ofus chooses what kind of person we will become. To become a hero, dothe things a hero does. To become a coward, do the things a cowarddoes. The opportunity to take action to become the kind of personyou want to be is yours.

This book is a collection of stories of gooddeeds. Most of them I have encountered in my reading of books, andthen retold in my own words. A very few come from other sources.This book is organized by topic. Many people in the arts, inreligion, and in everyday life have done good deeds, and I am happythat such people exist in this world.

I hope that you enjoy reading this book, andI hope that you are inspired to do some good deeds of your own.

Light a Candle

The disciples of a Hasidic rabbi complainedabout the presence of the forces of darkness in the World. Therabbi counseled them to take brooms and sweep out the darkness.They tried to sweep out the darkness, but they were unsuccessful.Next he advised his disciples to shout away the darkness. Theytried to shout away the darkness, but they were unsuccessful.Finally he advised his disciples to meet the challenge of darknessby lighting a candle. Each of his disciples lit a candle and thedarkness was gone. (1)

The Golden Rule

Paul Krassner remembers comedian GeorgeCarlin as a very kind man. Occasionally, Mr. Krassner would performin Los Angeles, and Mr. Carlin would send a limo to pick him up andwould let him stay in his home. When Mr. Krassner opened for Mr.Carlin at the Warner-Grand Theater in San Pedro, California, thetwo hung out together in Mr. Carlins dressing room. Mr. Krassnerwas also able to see Mr. Carlin interact with fans: I watched ashe continued to be genuinely gracious with every fan who stoppedby. If they wanted his autograph, he would gladly sign his name. Ifthey wanted to be photographed with him, he would assume the pose.If they wanted to have a little chat, he indulged them withcongeniality. Mr. Krassner said to Mr. Carlin, You really showrespect for everybody. And Mr. Carlin replied, Well, thats justthe way I would want to be treated. (2)

Well-Played, AnonymousTicket-Finder

On Saturday, April 12, 2008, Jon Sorak ofPark Forest and his significant other, Melinda, were lookingforward to seeing Jerry Seinfeld at the Chicago Theater in, ofcourse, Chicago. They ate dinner at Harry Carays, then took a fewphotographs on State Street, and then found out that their ticketswere missing. Mr. Sorak realized that the tickets had probablyfallen out of his pocket when he had taken his camera out, so theysearched for the tickets in that area but did not find them. Theythen talked to a security officer at the Chicago Theater, whodirected them to the Will Call office, and their tickets werehanded to them. Mr. Sorak says, In a city where scalping is thenorm, someone was honest and kind-hearted enough to [turn in thetickets]. Our thanks and prayers to this Good Samaritan. Moviecritic Richard Roeper, who wrote about this good deed in his blog,adds, Well-played, anonymous ticket-finder. (3)

Alas, Poor Yorick

When improvisational comedian Del Closedied, he left this provision in his will: I give my skull to theGoodman Theatre, for a production of Hamlet in which to playYorick, or for any other purposes the Goodman Theatre deemsappropriate. However, when he died, Charna Halpern, his partner atImprovOlympic, was unable to get his head, and therefore Ms.Halpern had his entire remains cremated. She ended up buying askull from the Anatomical Chart Company in Skokie, Illinois. Tomake the skull as much like Mr. Closes as possible, she pulled outseveral of its teeth before presenting it to Robert Falls, theartistic director of the Goodman Theatre. Mr. Falls keeps the skullon one of his bookshelves, and no one is bothered by the truth ofwhose corpse it originally belonged to. According to Kim HowardJohnson, author of a biography of Mr. Close titled The FunniestOne in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close (ChicagoReview Press), The attitude of most of Dels friends is that if itwasnt originally Dels skull, it is now. (4)

A Promise to Help Each Other

As young adults studying acting at Julliardin New York City, Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve becamefriends, and they promised that they would come to each others aidif either of them needed help. Of course, Mr. Williams became afamous comedian and actor, and Mr. Reeve became a famous actor whowas best known for playing Superman in a series of big-budgetmovies. Mr. Reeve also started competing in equestrian events, andhe was severely injured in a fall at one of these competitions. Mr.Reeve had good insurance, but even good insurance may run out whenan accident is severe, and Mr. Reeves accident was severe, puttinghim in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and forcing him torely on a breathing tube. Mr. Williams, as he had promised, came toMr. Reeves aid, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars eachyear for Mr. Reeves medical expenses and care. (5)

Staying Faithful

Country comedian Jerry Clower grew up in theSouth at a time when white people thought they were better thanblack people. He grew up racist, but he changed. One of the reasonshe changed was the behavior of a black man he worked with. Both heand the black man sold fertilizer, and they got to talking togetherabout their families. The black mans wife was mentally ill and hadbeen in a mental institution for 25 years, but he had remainedfaithful to her for those 25 years. Mr. Clower says, I dont knowwhether I could be faithful for 25 years to a lady after the doctortold me she wasnt ever going to get out of the mentalinstitution. (6)

A Coffee Cup Suspended in Mid-Air

Comedian Danny Thomas received his greatestcompliment from Mike Todd, who was in a nightclub while Mr. Thomaswas performing. Mr. Todd had lifted his coffee cup from his saucerwhen Mr. Thomas went into the dramatic part in his Ode to theWailing Lebanese. Mr. Todd felt it was inappropriate to put thecoffee cup to his lips at such a dramatic moment, and he was afraidthat he would make a noise if he set the coffee cup back down. Sohe held the coffee cup suspended in mid-air for three minutes,until the dramatic part was over. (7)

Putting Down a Racist

In 1946, British comedian George Formby andBeryl, his wife, went on tour in South Africa. There, theyentertained black audiences and even embraced adorable (andadoring) black children. Because South Africa was following thesegregationist policy of apartheid, Daniel Franois Malan, who wasthen the leader of the South African National Party, became angryat the non-racist actions of George and Beryl. When he complainedabout how George and Beryl were acting, Beryl told him, P*ss off,you horrible little man. (8)

Starting Your Own Peace March

Comedian Bertice Berry and her cousin oncetraveled to a peace march, but they couldnt find it. At first,they started to get upset, but then they decided to have their ownpeace march. The two of them started marching, chanting, We wantpeace. We want peace. Quite a few people came up to themthey werealso looking for the peace march. Ms. Berry says, I found out thata lot of people looking for peace are simply lost. Were all lost.And once we find each other, there will be a lot of power in comingtogether and working for change. But we have to do it in humor andin love. (9)