By Jody Lee
radio host, author, political and lifestyle blogger, media consultant
Published: December 21, 2009

I was cleaning out a drawer the other day (what are the odds?) and came across something I cut out of a book (yes, I sometimes do that).  That little quote on a little yellowed scrap of paper has followed me for at least 20 years, probably longer.  I don’t even remember the book it came from.  But it was easy to remember why I saved it.

I wanted to share it with you here, now.  Maybe you will print it out too and let it follow you from place to place, from time to time.  Maybe it will inspire you as it has me, each time I have rediscovered it over the years. 

The older I get, the more grateful I am that long ago, I took to stowing away little things that rise up and surprise me in years to come.  Anyway…

“Each smallest act of kindness reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it is passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.  Likewise, each small meanness, each expression of hatred, each act of evil.”