I saw him most mornings when I looked out of the living room window. He became part of my day. Slightly bent, he dragged one leg a little, the foot twisted so that he walked more on the side of his foot than the sole. I guessed he was in his eighties. He wore only a flannel shirt. When I could see his breath against the air on a frosty morning, I wondered if he was cold.
Nice people are often not good people and good people are often not nice people
Ernie Zelinsky, 101 Really Important Things You Already Know but keep forgetting
We live in a culture in which a nice person is considered tantamount to being good person. The result is that many nice people are mistaken for fine human beings, when in fact, they haven't earn this distinction due to their serious character defects. On the other hand, many really good people are mistaken for having serious character defects just because they aren't the nicest people around. So what makes a good person?
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him,and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Once, a Chinese traveller came to meet Kautilya (Chanakya). It was dusk and darkness had just started to set in. When the traveller entered Chanakya's room. he saw that Chanakya was busy writing some important papers under the lighting of an oil lamp. You know that there were no bulbs or tube lights in those days, since there was no electricity. So, in those days people used to light oil lamps Chanakya smilingly welcomed his guest and asked him to sit. He then quickly completed the work that he was doing.
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
