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There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.
In the year 1880, a homeless little Chinese boy wandered the docks of Shanghai.
When no one was looking he smuggled himself aboard an American vessel
loading cargo. For days he hid in a drain where garbage and rubbish were
daily dumped. For days he fought the rats for the stinking scraps that
were thrown through the opening above him.
Finally,
however, it became too much even for his determination so he climbed
out of his hiding place and was discovered. It was the custom in those
days to throw stowaways overboard with neither sympathy nor ceremony.
But the captain of the ship, a man by the name of Charles Jones, was
strangely drawn to this indomitable spirit.
So
he kept the boy with him for the remainder of the voyage and fed him
back to some semblance of health. When the boat docked at Wilmington, North Carolina, he turned the boy over to the minister of the church he attended when in port.
The
minister befriended this tiny package of humanity and named him
Charlie, after the captain who had saved him. Raised in the minister's
home, when Charlie grew older he went away to Trinity College (now Duke University). Then he entered a theological seminary from which he graduated and was ordained.
Returning to China, he married a Chinese girl and set up a home out of which came six children. One daughter became the wife of the Minister of Finance; another daughter became the wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic;
and the third daughter became the wife of Chiang Kai-shek. One son
became the founder of the Bank of China; another son became the
Collector of customs of Chinese ports; and the third son became the
manager of the export-import business of China. So the Soong dynasty was founded.
If
there is a lesson here it can be learned from a sea captain who when he
first went to sea never knew how a simple act of love and kindness
would change the world. And, yes what opportunity awaits each of us
around the next bend in the road. And will we take it or pass it by,
never to know what might have been.
TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel, a 2nd
book Sixty Plus and not Holding (How to get by in life with a host of
pluses no matter what your age) on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday
varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL
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To
view his One Man Dramas on film (see by millions, live and on film and
on video)(Martin Luther, Ben Franklin, Charles Wesley, Abraham Lincoln)
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