Be grateful having met people so good

The sermon that Fr Slavin delivered in St. Simon's during the Mass this morning was very inspiring. He spoke of his old school boy days when the school syllabus prescribed students to recite poems. One of the poems was written by a Muslim poet (and I forgot his name though it's mentioned in the sermon), who wrote about a vision that he once had.

He saw an Angel coming to his bed, writing on a kind of plate. Curious about what the Angel was writing, this poet asked, "May I know what you're writing about?"

"It's a name list of people that love God," said the Angel.

The poet, thinking himself a very devout believer of his God, said, "I love my God very much. Could you please add my name to it?"

"Oh no, " said the Angel. "Not yet. There are so many names before you."

Not deterred, the poet said, "Then could you please tell God that I love people -- that I truly love them all?"

Without saying any thing, the Angel faded away.

Next morning, the poet had a vision again. He saw the same Angel sitting by his bed side, writing another namelist.

"May I ask what you're writing about this time?" asked the poet.

The Angel smiled at him and said, "This time I'm preparing a namelist of people that God loves."

And the Angel showed the list to the poet, whose name led the others' at the top.

Fr. Slavin didn't elaborate much on this poem. He did, though, choose this poem to underpin the preaching from the reading of St. Mark -- love thy neighbour as you love thyself.

It reminds me of an incident in Saturday evening. It was about 6 o'clock and I was riding my bicycle home. My front light wasn't on, because the battery was exhausted and I forgot to replace it. I had bought a hi-vis jacket and switched on the red light on my backpack in addition to the rear light on my bike, as I was more concerned about the motorists coming from my rear than those coming towards me. When I rode along Kelvingrove Park, I passed along a car which signalled to come out from the kerb. The driver must have noticed me approaching, as the car stopped midway and let me pass by. When I stopped in front of the traffic light several yards further down the road, the car stopped by me. The driver was a local girl. She shouted at me to indicate that my front light was not on.

"You forgot to switch on your front light. You should put it on to let others see you." She was so eager that she actually jumped out her car to press the button of my front light.

"I know, I know.., " I was a bit embarrassed and tried to defend myself. "It's just the battery runs out."

She was embarrassed too. "Oh, sorry!" she couldn't help laughing. "I thought you didn't notice."

"I appreciate it," said I. "Thanks very much."

The traffic light having turned green, I sped my bike off.

Once a while when you bump into a stranger and offer a helping hand, chances are that your kindness won't be welcomed. Very often your helping hand would be rebuked. I hope that my explanation would not deter that young lady's kind heartedness to others. I just wanna be grateful to have met some people so good to me.