LETTERS: 'DO UNTO OTHERS' CHANGES BAD DAY TO GOOD

To the editor:

The sun had been up long enough to light the landscape, but its rays still hadn't penetrated the early-morning cool air. As I jogged past the homes, I couldn't help but notice some yards still in their Halloween costumes just waiting for their masters to come and turn them back into their original beauty.

As I got to the park trail and rounded the first couple of corners, I was taken back by what I saw. There, in the middle of the trail, somebody had taken several of the park-trail maps and had thrown them on the ground. Many of the maps had been shredded into small pieces, leaving quite a mess. In fact, for almost half a mile I kept seeing these scattered and shredded maps littering the trail. Halloween vandals have done this, I thought to myself. It's a shame people do such things. The park personnel sure will have a time cleaning this mess up.

But as I continued jogging, I met an older gentleman walking in the opposite direction. We exchanged greetings as we passed. Then I met a group of ladies following not too far behind. I wondered how they would respond when they saw the vandalized trail. Maybe they would be as upset as I was about the whole situation.

I got to my halfway point and started walking. In a few moments I was to the place where I last saw the maps on the trail. To my surprise, there were no maps to be found. They had disappeared. I kept walking, and all I found on the trail were just a few small pieces here and there. I couldn't believe it. Somebody had gone to a lot of work to pick up that big mess. Who'd do such a thing? I wondered. I looked down the trail to see if I could catch a glimpse of the good Samaritan. But he, along with the mess he had cleaned up, had vanished into the morning air.

I could have returned home from my morning jog with feelings of anger or disgust, which was my initial response when I saw the littered trail. But because of someone's selfless act, I came home with positive thoughts, desiring to be more like that person. A negative situation was turned into a positive one.

We could spend our whole lives looking at the negatives in life and still be no further ahead. The morning run helped me to realize, more than ever, the age-old truth: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Matthew 7:12. There will always be problems on this old earth when people do to others what they would never do to themselves. But maybe we can make our world a little better by trying to be a part of the solution, leaving a wonderful example to inspire others to greater deeds of love and kindness. Would you be willing to do such a thing.

LEE WHITMAN

Cape Girardeau