On June 23, 1970. I had just left the Army after completing my one-year duty in Vietnam. I was on 1returning home in Texas. I had been warned about the 2 of our fellow countrymen. There was no3 welcome for us when we came home from that unpopular war.
I sat, in uniform, in a window seat4 eye contact with my fellow passengers. NO one was sitting next to me, which added to my 5. A little girl suddenly appeared in the passage. She6and, without saying a word7 handed me a magazine. I accepted her8 her quiet “welcome home.” All I could say was, “Thank you.” Her small gesture of 9was the first I had experienced in a long time.
I always believe in the connection between10 when they reach out to one another.
That girl11 has no memory of what happened years ago. She might have been told to do that by her mother. It doesn't matter12 she gave me the magazine. The 13thing is that she did.
Since then, I have followed her example and tried in different ways for different people, to 14for them. Like me on that plane ride long ago, they will 15 know why a stranger gave a hand. But I absolutely know that my 16 since then are all because of that little girl. Her kindness of offering a magazine to a 17 scared and lonely soldier has been 18 throughout my life. I have to believe that my small 19 have the same effect on others. And to that little girl, now a20 I would like to say again: thank you.
