I just thought of a funny little story which I don’t think I’ve ever told here.  It happened a few years back when we had a place in Charleston.  Here’s the deal.  I struck up a friendship with one of the cab driver’s down there.  He worked for Black Taxi Cabs… and our first interaction with that company was a bit of a fiasco.  But that is another story.

Anyway, my friend, the cab driver, I met at birthday party.  His name was Brian Prass (I hope he isn’t on FB… he’ll ring my neck).

So… to get back to it … one night… he had a late fare.  It was a nun.  She got into the cab and away they went.  Unfortunately…. Brian couldn’t quit staring at her.

Well. Apparently she couldn’t take it any more and she asked him why he kept staring.  To which Brian said….”I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.”

That old nun leaned forward and said “My dear son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”

So crazy Brian tells her…..”Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”

I guess she looked a little startled at first and then told him that she would give him a kiss if he met two stipulations.  He had to be single  AND he had to be Catholic.

Brian got a little flippy and smiley…. and said, “Yes, I am single and I’m Catholic too!”

Unbelievable.  The nun said… “OK, pull into the next alley.”

So Brian pulls his cab into the alley behind the Days Inn.  And… of all things… that old nun fulfills his fantasy.   Brian was beside himself.  Goofball.

So… they pull back onto Meeting Street.  But… here is the thing about Brian.  He is a huge goofball.  He started crying. “My dear child.” said the nun, “Why are you crying?”

“Forgive me sister, but I have sinned. I lied, I must confess, I’m married and a I’m a Baptist.”

The nun says, “That’s OK, I am on the way to a Halloween party, and my name is Kevin.”

Okay… silly story.  But there is a good lesson to be learned here.  Things aren’t always as they appear.  We may think we know what something is.. by how it looks on the outside.  But the truth is, we might not be able to tell much at all by outward appearances.

Until we get to know something, we can’t possibly know what it will be like.   And whatever that something is…. it may mean something entirely different to someone else.   This all goes for people too.

I can only hope that I act with openness and compassion whenever I encounter someone new, or someone I don’t understand.  There is no need to be cruel in life.  There is only a need to be kind.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.  —  Dalai Lama

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.  —  Lao Tzu

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A good friend of ours is having surgery tomorrow… which will be today by the time most of you read this.  Time warp.

At any rate… she may need a little cheering up.  Apparently she lost a hip somewhere along the lines.. so those doctors are going to replace it… or some such business.  So tomorrow…I may tell a joke or something.