How can we foster generosity of spirit?

As I've written before, storytelling is an essential tool of the successful fundraiser. This one made me cry today, which is always a good sign. It's another lesson from Wayne Muller, founder of Bread for the Journey.

"David is a junior high school teacher. He told me that when he was a boy, he was fond of throwing stones. One afternoon, he discovered that if he tossed stones over his neighbor's fence, he could create a crashing sound, the sound of breaking glass. So he would heave a stone, and wait for the crash. Heave, crash. It was great fun. It felt a little dangerous -- he might get caught, after all -- but that, to a small boy, was part of the excitement.

As it happened, he did get caught. The man who lived next door came to his house and told his parents about the boy and the stones. 'I would like David to co me to my home, so I can show him a few things,' the man said, in a tone David took to be quite ominous. His parents, ashamed of and disappointed by their son's behavior, readily sent their son to the neighbor's house.

David sheepishly followed the man into his house, through the back door and out into the yard. There, next to the fence David was so fond of throwing rocks over, was a greenhouse. The stones had shattered many panes of glass. Once whole, the greenhouse now looked wounded, defeated. As the man led David into the greenhouse, David, imagining all manner of punishments, felt he was going straight to hell. What was the man going to do to him?

Slowly, as he led David down the rows of plants, the man began talking about flowers. He took David slowly, showing him each one and explaining what he loved about them. These, he said, are my gladiolas. They can get quite large, and bloom in many colors. These are violets; they were my wife's favorite. When I see them, I remember her, and I miss her. In the deep purple, she lives in my eyes. And these orchids, right here, are very difficult to grow. But when they bloom, they create the most exquisite shape and texture. You cannot believe until you see with your own eyes how a flower can be so beautiful.

David was shocked. There was no lecture, no beating, no punishment at all. After about an hour of showing David everything he loved about his flowers, and the greenhouse that helped him to grow them, he thanked David for coming, and told him he was free to go. As he walked home, David strangely felt as if he had been in heaven.

'At that moment,' David told me, 'I knew I would grow up and be a teacher. This man had done a very small thing -- he showed me what he loved. He could have yelled about the glass, punished me for being cruel, but instead he took a few thoughtful minutes to share with me the fragrances and colors that meant so much to him. In a single hour, that man changed the course of my entire life.'

What if the healing of the world utterly depends on the ten thousand invisible kindnesses we offer simply and quietly throughout the pilgrimage of each human life?"