A sixth-grader's thank you kept this serviceman going - and now they've met

During the Vietnam War, John Metzler was a 23-year-old helicopter gunner. He knew that the US was divided on our involvement in the war, and that each day might be his last. 

On Christmas Day 1970, Metzler got a card from a sixth-grader he didn't know. In part, it read, "Dear Serviceman, I want to give my sincere thanks for going over to war to fight for us. The class hopes you will be able to come home." It was signed "DonnaCaye." 

Even though the card wasn't addressed directly to him, Metzler took the girl's thanks personally. Knowing that someone had thanked him for what he was doing made a huge difference in his ability to cope with the stresses of his tour. He kept the note through his tour of duty and brought it home with him. 

For over 40 years, the young girl's words have lived behind a photo of Metzler as a young soldier. Recently, he asked family members to try to find DonnaCaye. They told him they tried, but were not successful.

In truth, they did find her. They flew her from Florida to meet the serviceman at a veteran's event near his Idaho home. You can watch their touching interaction as captured by CBS News. 

Teen's simple act of kindness changed a young mother's outlook

Nineteen-year-old Kent State University student Mackenzie Mauller ordered her coffee at the local Starbucks drive-thru. As she sometimes does, she paid for coffee for the person behind her in line, then went on about her day. 

The recipient of this small kindness was 32-year-old Nicole Clawson, a mother of two. Clawson was going through some tough times, and was at Starbucks to give herself a rare treat. The generosity of this stranger buying her coffee made her cry. 

As Clawson pulled into her neighborhood, she spotted Mauller's car parked just a few doors down from her own home. The two were neighbors! Clawson wrote a lengthy thank you note and tucked it in Mauller's mailbox.

“I felt it necessary for you to know that what you did for me was more than just a coffee,” Clawson wrote. "It was something that has turned my whole day around, put tears in my eyes and a smile on my face and I feel so grateful.”

The note went viral. 

The two met in person, and Mauller has offered to babysit for Clawson's young children sometime. Mauller says, "It has made me realize truly how much you can impact someone’s day just by being kind.”

Home security camera captures 3 kids returning a wallet with $700 inside

When a news station gets hold of home security footage, it's often broadcast to identify a criminal. Aurora, Colorado area stations broadcast this footage to help identify three great kids. It worked.

A couple weeks ago, Haylie Wenke, 13, and her 6-year-old brother Reagan were riding bikes with a friend. They spotted a wallet in a driveway, brought it up to the door, and rang the bell. The smart doorbell system answered, and the surprised-looking kids explained their find. "We found your wallet outside of your car and we just thought we would give it back to you. I'm going to put it over here so no one takes the money," Haylie said. 

The wallet had $700 inside.

The homeowner, Jamie Carlton, was grateful for the kids' honesty. He wanted to thank them personally, but didn't know who they were. So he posted the security video on Facebook in hopes of finding the kids. The video was picked up local news outlets, which led Carlton to Haylie's mother. He was able to contact the kids to thank them for their honesty. He said the kids' action, 'refreshed your faith in humanity." 

The persistence of a 6-year-old saves a man's life

Six-year-old Karter Thorpe of Franklin, Virginia was riding in the backseat of his grandmother's car. As they trolled the Lowe's parking lot looking for a space, Karter called out to his 'Mimi' that he saw a man lying down on the pavement. She later reported that since Karter has such an active imagination, she doubted his words and kept driving. Karter wouldn't let it go. "You have to go back!" he told her. "He's hurt!" So to prove him wrong, Mimi turned the car around.

Sure enough, a man was lying beside a car just where Karter had seen him. The man was gasping for air. Mimi called 911 and a second passerby performed CPR until the ambulance arrived.

Mimi later learned that the 64-year-old man had suffered a heart attack. He likely would have died if Karter had not spotted him and kept after Mimi until she stopped. The man and his family want to meet Karter to thank him personally. The police officers who responded to the scene have offered to buy Karter ice cream.

The power of dance

Vania Deonizio loves to dance. She's sharing that love with kids who are hospitalized or chronically ill through a program called Dancin Power based in Oakland California. This uplifting program gives free dance lessons right in the hospital, adapting the movement to accommodate the kids' restrictions. The non-profit organization believes that everyone can dance! The kids agree.

Dancin Power got its start in 2006. Typically, the bright, energetic dances focus on Hula, traditional Brazilian dance, and hip hop, full of spirited music and fun movements. Classes may be held in the patients’ hospital rooms, in groups or individually. If the child has a low immune system or other frailties, the dance instructors may wear masks, gown, and gloves to the bedside and deliver the lesson right there.

Loved ones are welcome to join in. "By having the whole family, and at times their doctors and nurses too participating, we create community, a very supportive and fun one,” Deonizio said. She loves to see the child's laughter and joy come out through participating in the program.




“For that moment, the patients and their families are able to interact with one another in a non-medical way,” Deonizio told The Huffington Post in an email. “They are laughing, learning something new, having a good time, feeling happy together!”







The doctors and hospital staff are thrilled with the program. Dance, in whatever form is medically safe for the child, improves muscle strength, endurance, and mobility. Plus it boosts the child's mood through the sheer joy of self-expression.

Deonizio feels the benefit too. “Every time I teach I learn something new from my students/patients,” she told HuffPost, “...being completely present, appreciate the moment, have gratitude and never give up.”

Focus on right

I've been to the beautiful, friendly city of Munich twice, once for pleasure and once for research. Because Munich is my novel's setting, I have spent many hours there in my head as well. That makes the recent horror there all the more painful. The news coverage gives us terrible details about the event, and in a short time everyone knows the shooter's name, age, and background. Perpetuating the perpetrator. Perpetuating the prejudice. 

And yet I'm sure someone in that mall acted valiantly. No doubt someone sheltered a frightened child, protected a potential victim at risk to his or her own self. Soon, I hope, we'll hear about a 'hero' we can all admire.  

Which reminds me of this seldom-told tale which got little (or no) publicity at the time about terror in another city I love, my hometown of NYC. The video below narrated by Tom Hanks was not made until years later. But stories like this are the ones that deserve the most publicity, the ones I hope we remember. 

On 9/11, the greatest boat rescue in world history plucked half-a-million terrified people off the south end of Manhattan in just 9 hours. Some of the boats were privately owned, others were Coast Guard vessels, ferries, tugs, and tour lines. In the uncertain and frightening events of that day in NYC, these courageous boat owners and captains risked their own lives, driving the flotilla right into the smoke and debris of lower Manhattan. 

I choose to focus on these heroes. I choose to tell stories about those who chose right. 

Tell me a story and a Robin Williams moment

Last week, our granddaughters spent a few days with us. Addie who is 'almost four!' and whose language development is off-the-charts is at that wondrous stage of emerging imagination. One of her favorite requests is, "Tell me a story." Stories she knows about characters she loves are easy for re-telling - Nemo, Cinderella, the Three Little Pigs.

One afternoon, we were blowing bubbles outside and Addie stopped in her tracks. "Tell me a story about a magic bubble." She supplied the characters and in less than a minute, I had the rough sketch of a story in my head - beginning, middle, and end, problem and resolution, setting - all of it. Whoa. I told her my story and then dictated it into my voice recorder for safekeeping.

The following day, the same thing happened, this time with a story about 'a tree that's lost in the woods.' Trying to picture how a tree could get lost, I asked about the tree, could it walk and talk, like Tolkien's Ents. She said, "No, silly. Trees don't walk or talk. They're just trees." Ah, well. But again inside a minute, I had a story about a magic tree whose whereabouts had been lost to the ages.

Then I turned it around on her. "Your turn to tell a story," I said. "Who is it about?" I'm proud to say  she was the hero of her own story and she brought along a companion on her imaginary adventure, either her sister or her buddy Cole who lives down the street. I'd supply a detail or two, maybe the setting (a beach) or a problem (they lost their sand toys) and with a few 'and then what happened?' prompts, she'd take it from there. She is a great storyteller-in-the-making.

Ironic that this happened the week we lost one of our generation's great creative minds. When asked about how he came up with imaginative ideas in his classic rapid-fire style, the late Robin Williams once said it came to him as he watched his four-year-old playing with action figures. The child made different voices and personalities for each figure, creating villain-filled problems with hero-filled solutions. One of our generations greatest actors and comics said all he did was try to channel his inner four-year-old.

I'm thankful to have an imaginative four-year-old in my life too. 

Thanks for the support!

I'm touched and delighted with the turnout for my presentation today at the Dietrich - 43 people! Friends from my church and work and neighborhood lives, from the Writers Group and the Theater, and even more amazing, complete strangers who dedicated an hour or more of their lives to come and listen. Some scooted out before I had a chance to thank them personally, but I truly appreciate the attendance of each and every one.

Sharing my journey as a writer is such fun. I hope venues like this lead to more opportunities!

I'm gonna get philosophical here...

This week marked two major anniversaries in US history - the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Unless you spent the week under a rock, you've been inundated with video clips and interviews, musings about how the event shaped the country, and speculation galore of how different our lives would be if the event never happened.

But this begs the question - aren't our lives shaped continually by millions of events which are outside our control? True, some are momentous ones, like the delivery of a speech which encapsulates a national mission or the murder of a young, charismatic leader. But I'll go out on a limb and say that as individuals, we should be more focused on the events and actions that are within our control. Small events sparked by our own choices may seem insignificant, but they shape our daily lives at least as much as huge national events.


On a daily basis, we can choose to engage in individual acts of generosity or stinginess, to behave in a way that is cruel or kind. We can offer the gift of friendship or we can turn our back on loneliness and need. We can lend or withhold encouragement and support, and we can speak our mind in the face of injustice or we can keep silent and allow injustice to reign unchecked.We're intelligent people; we understand how our behavior affects someone else and in turn influences their behavior ... and that it spreads from there like the proverbial ripples in a pond.

So my wish for all of us as we begin preparations for Thanksgiving is this: May we live well enough that one small act of ours might result in thankfulness in someone else. And may that person pay it forward and pass it on.