My wife, Pancake the Wonderdog and I are about to head out on our whirlwind Grand Christmas Caravan 2006 in which we drive to Kansas City for Christmas, then to southeast Iowa (Megan’s folks) for more Christmas, then back to KC before eventually making it back to Dallas. I’m already tired.

But before I bid adieu for 2006, I wanted to leave you with this lovely little story that I found in my inbox this morning. Like all the best stories, this one is true. It happened to my friend and A-list director (hire him) Norry Niven. Here it is, with his permission:

Yesterday evening I stopped for gas on my way home from work and noticed an old stray dog waiting outside the store. Not too close to suggest he was a pet yet just close enough and skinny enough to say he was hungry enough to be there, waiting for anything to eat. He was a large, collar-less, black dog with a mangy, soft coat and big, sweet eyes.

As I went inside to pay I hoped he’d be there long enough for me to get him a bite of something warm for dinner. I scoured the store quickly and purchased a preheated sausage in one of those gas station fried food vending areas; barely qualifying as human food, this was the easy choice.

When I returned outside there was a man, who had his dinner on a newspaper stand and was yelling at the dog to leave saying, “Get out from here dog, this is my food!” The dog started to go back into the street but I got his attention with the grub.

The man said, “Is that your dog?”

I said, “Not mine….that dog belongs to all of us.”

The stray ate what I gave him in seconds as I returned to my car.

Driving away I got stopped at the light, looked across traffic and saw something that brought the spirit of the holiday back into my heart.

The man who had been screaming at the poor stray.

The man who snarled at me.

The man who stood there and saw that dog’s sweet eyes and who saw how quickly he’d eaten my food.

That man was kneeling down, sharing half of his sandwich with that old, hungry, stray mutt.

And isn’t that what giving is all about?

So that others will do the same and eventually the less fortunate might survive through at least one more cold, heartless, winter night.

One good deed to your fellow man, one kind act, that’s all it takes.

God bless and Merry Christmas –
Norry


Merry Christmas, everyone.

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