Mel Taylor
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2009
- Messages
- 489
Our synagogue holds a worship service every Saturday morning. One of our members is a woman in her late 70s/early 80s. She isn't homeless but looks and dresses like one of the homeless ones. Has both full upper and lower dentures but seldom wears them. Clothes don't look to be overly clean. Definitely not the kind of woman that inspires fantasies. Let's call her Millie.
Millie doesn't have a vehicle. Public transportation is almost non-existent here and taxis are expensive so, in order to get to services and other events, she ends up having to beg for rides from other congregants.
She called me Friday afternoon to ask for a ride to services on Saturday. For various reasons I had to turn her down even though I was going myself. I promised to try to find a ride for her. About 9:00 PM Friday evening I ran into a friend and mentioned that she needed a ride on Saturday. He got on the phone right then, called her up and said something like "Millie, Mel just told me you need a ride tomorrow. I'll pick you up at your house about 9:30 in the morning".
All well and good. I did a good deed by arranging a ride for her, my friend did his good deed by offering her a ride, she gets to join in the worship service and everyone is happy - until Saturday morning.
I get to the synagogue a little early. Services haven't started yet but there are a goodly number of people already in the sanctuary. I set down in the very back row in an aisle seat. Millie is setting down towards the front of the sanctuary but sees me come in. She gets up, walks back to where I'm setting, says in a nice clear voice "thank you for last night", turns around and walks back to her seat before I can respond.
To say I got some strange looks from the people around me would be an understatement. I think this gives a whole new meaning to the saying that no good deed goes unpunished.
Millie doesn't have a vehicle. Public transportation is almost non-existent here and taxis are expensive so, in order to get to services and other events, she ends up having to beg for rides from other congregants.
She called me Friday afternoon to ask for a ride to services on Saturday. For various reasons I had to turn her down even though I was going myself. I promised to try to find a ride for her. About 9:00 PM Friday evening I ran into a friend and mentioned that she needed a ride on Saturday. He got on the phone right then, called her up and said something like "Millie, Mel just told me you need a ride tomorrow. I'll pick you up at your house about 9:30 in the morning".
All well and good. I did a good deed by arranging a ride for her, my friend did his good deed by offering her a ride, she gets to join in the worship service and everyone is happy - until Saturday morning.
I get to the synagogue a little early. Services haven't started yet but there are a goodly number of people already in the sanctuary. I set down in the very back row in an aisle seat. Millie is setting down towards the front of the sanctuary but sees me come in. She gets up, walks back to where I'm setting, says in a nice clear voice "thank you for last night", turns around and walks back to her seat before I can respond.
To say I got some strange looks from the people around me would be an understatement. I think this gives a whole new meaning to the saying that no good deed goes unpunished.
