Mel Feller Shares The Kindness His Grandfather Did at One Time-It came back around by Mel Feller

When I was a student my family went through a few rough financial years due to their real estate investments. We got by, but only with much effort and many worries.

I had a pick-up truck that was forever breaking down and the thought of the 600km drive to school in it was a worrisome one. As I drove away from home my uncle walked up. I stopped and he threw something onto my dashboard.

He leaned in the window, speaking softly. "Years ago," he said, "when I was a poor student myself your grandfather once did this to me. I swore one day I would return the gift. And now I have."

Then he walked away without looking back, and I sensed he did so in order to hide his emotions. 

A few miles later I opened the envelope. It contained a few bank notes. It was a gift returned more than two decades later to a second generation; almost like a full circle, because I'm the only one who bears my grandfather's name. The amount wasn't much. Twenty-some years ago it had been enough to buy a full trolley of groceries, or a few tanks of fuel. Now it was just a gesture. But my uncle was jobless at the time and I was nearly broke so, for both of us, it was a meaningful amount.

I paid it forward some years later to another poor boy with an old clunker of a car, adjusting the amount for inflation. As far as I can remember that boy has been the only one I've told this story to - until now. I can only hope that one day he will pay it forward too.

I couldn't help but feel that Grandpa had made a good investment all those years ago.