A Most Selfless Act

One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Mitch Album. (By the way, he is also the author of “Tuesdays With Morrie,” one of my favorite books.) He told the greatest story in a recent column. It is about a Texas woman named Marilyn who went to a foreclosure auction to watch her son bid on a house. While there, Marilyn encountered an upset woman and after talking to her, Marilyn discovered that this woman’s house was one to be going on the auction block that day. Marilyn was moved to help; she ended up bidding on, and winning, the woman’s house and giving it back to her with easy repayment terms.

What an amazing story! Marilyn’s son was quoted as saying, “She’s always done good things, for me and everybody else. It’s a body of work, to be honest.” Here’s what Mitch says, which is so excellent:

“A body of work. Of good deeds and selfless acts. I can think of no better election story than this one, because if America is to survive the next few months and years, it won’t hinge on which man sits in the White House. It will hinge on whether we are willing to think as much about others as Marilyn did, to actually help someone simply because they need it, not whether we think they deserve it. It will hinge on our belief in the innate goodness of fellow citizens, rather than assumptions that they are bad because they are not like us.”

Wow. Well said, Mitch. Are we up for it, America? Let’s do it!