Like the others, I also hope for her speedy and complete recovery

I agree; the Monastery is more than a place to pick up a syntax tricks or a quick FAQ. It's a community of like-mined people, generally devoted to helping each other learn. Personally, I really like that. There are some very real and very decent people. (There are a few other types as well, but we won't go there today.)

The Offering Plate is a great was to give back and I'm certain that vroom and others appreciate your donation. There might be another avenue to consider as well.

When I graduated from high school, I basically found myself on the street. The story is long, involved, and boils down to the fact that my mother had "provided" for me until I was 18 and she felt that was enough. G'bye.

Fortunately, many decent folks gave me space to crash while I worked my way through school. Sometimes, it was a couch and a corner to stash my things. At others, it was a room to let for what I could afford. One time, a family friend of a girlfriend (iow, nearly a complete stranger) paid a large bill for me. This was done freely, without being asked, and with only one string.

The man, you see, was a medical doctor and had apparently found himself in some straights while he was going to medical school. A complete stranger did a similar favor for him, asking only that--at sometime in the future--he perform a similar generosity for someone else. The doctor then passed the geas (if you will) to me.

I have no idea if I was his first beneficiary, nor do I know if I was the last. I do know that I have passed it on frequently since then. Plainly, I do many random acts of kindness, many anonymously. In some cases, I've asked my beneficiaries to continue the tradition.

You see where I'm going with this. One way to repay unexpected generosity is to be unexpectedly generous to someone else. Not a friend, but a complete stranger. Someone you don't know or someone will likely never see again.

--f, trying to change the world one courtesy at a time...Hokey? You bet. So? It's also true.

In reply to Re: Friends in unusual places by footpad
in thread Friends in unusual places by Zecho

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.