Wise Up (11-16-09)

Good Deeds

"¢ Film critic Roger Ebert took his last drink in August 1979. One of the things that helped make that his last drink was Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), where he heard many interesting stories about fellow alcoholics discovering AA. For example, he heard a Native American tell about crawling out from under an abandoned car (the closest thing to an address that he had), then seeing a police officer and asking where was an AA meeting. The police officer replied, "œYou see those people going in over there?" Another example: A hippie's VW van broke down on a lonely road in Alaska. She started walking on a frozen stream. She heard bells ringing, and she sat down and waited to freeze to death. She really did hear bells "“they were on a sleigh, and the people on the sleigh rescued her and took her to an AA meeting. A third example: A priest hid in the janitor's closet in the priest's own church so he could listen to an AA meeting "“ that was his very first AA meeting.

By the way, AA occasionally has open meetings to which recovering alcoholics can bring friends and family members, if they want, but most meetings are closed "“ only recovering alcoholics can attend them.

Eppie Lederer, aka Ann Landers, worked at the same newspaper "“ the Chicago Sun-Times "“ as Mr. Ebert. She was not an alcoholic, but she wanted to attend an AA meeting. Mr. Ebert took her to a place where a closed meeting was being held, and while Ms. Lederer waited outside, he asked if she could attend the closed meeting. The recovering alcoholics took a vote, and the majority voted No. Ms. Lederer said, "Well, I've heard everything! Ann Landers can't get into an AA meeting!" Fortunately, Mr. Ebert knew where an open meeting was being held, and he took her there.

"¢ Groucho Marx was an excellent comedian, and in some ways he was an excellent man. He could make people laugh in person, and he could make people laugh through his writing. One of his friends was a writer named Al Sheekman, who occasionally had trouble selling comic essays. Both Groucho and Al would sometimes edit each other's work. Whenever Al was having a hard time selling comic essays and really needed some money, Groucho would offer to put his name on one of Al's comic essays and sell it. Groucho would sometimes edit the piece to make it sound more like Groucho, and he would sell the comic essay to a magazine. All the money thus obtained went to Al. Of course, Groucho could write funny all by himself, but he didn't mind being a front in order to help a friend.

"¢ In the winter of early 2009, Jaehnel Leduc, a resident of Hackettstown, N.J., was going to a business on Main Street when she saw a group of approximately 15 young men shoveling snow. She asked if they were being paid, but they replied that they were athletes on the wrestling team of Centenary College in Hackettstown. Their wrestling match had been cancelled, so they had decided to do a good deed for the town and shovel the snow on Main Street. Jaehnel offered to buy the young men lunch, but one young man replied, "Thank you, but it wouldn't be a good deed if we did it for money." Jaehnel wrote in a letter to the Warren Reporter, "Good people and good deeds do still exist. What a wonderful community we live in."

"¢ Celebrity interviewer Will Harris once met Tom Kenny, who provides the voice of cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants. Mr. Kenny did a very good deed for Mr. Harris, who remembers, "I actually met him back in January [2009], and he made me the coolest dad on earth by doing a quick message for my three-year-old daughter in his best SpongeBob voice." Mr. Kenny's friend from childhood and beyond, comedian/writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait, remembers that Tom used to have pictures of the cartoon character Olive Oyl in his locker at school: "He, like, had the hots for Olive Oyl. So the fact that he is a giant voice actor now, it makes complete sense."

"¢ In 1992, Cassandra and John Craven took Jane, their 2-year-old daughter, and Socks, their pet cat, along on a vacation to the Adirondack Mountains. While Jane was in a clearing, a black bear suddenly came and grabbed her in its jaws. Socks the cat came to the rescue, jumping onto the bear's head and scratching at its eyes. The black bear released Jane and starting clawing at Socks, who jumped off the bear's head and fled with the black bear in hot pursuit. Jane was fine, although the bear's jaws had torn her clothing. Two hours later, Socks the cat showed up, safe and sound and winner of the match: Cat: 1, Bear: 0.

"¢ In late November 2001, Bess Evans left her purse in a shopping cart after a visit to the Moore Plaza H-E-B. When she missed her purse, she drove back to the store but was unable to locate her purse. After she returned home, her telephone rang, and calling her was a kind woman who had found her purse and would bring it to her home. The woman's name was Florine Ortiz, and Ms. Evans wrote in a letter to the editor of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, "There has got to be a very big check mark by 'Good Deed Done' on her record up in Heaven. I will pray for her and her family for the rest of my life."

"¢ During a visit to a Sam's Club, Betty Freeman of Trent, Texas, accidentally left behind her red billfold, which was stuffed with money. Fortunately, an anonymous person found it and turned it in to an employee of Sam's Club, and she was able to recover her billfold and money. In a letter to the editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, Ms. Freeman writes, "I know the Lord has angels watching over us every day. We hear all the bad stuff that goes on all the time, but not about a lot of good things that happen in the Big Country. God bless someone who is very honest."