SPREADING LOVE TO OTHERS OF
A “Different” Lifestyle
While teaching at a university in New York City, I was the happy recipient of many acts of kindness and comradery on the part of other professors, including a home-cooked dinner invite. I set out for the upper East Side of Manhattan where I was regaled with many fascinating stories about university life there. My hosts treated me with such royalty that I almost failed to notice that their “lifestyle” was rather different from my own. A desire had welled up within me to reciprocate for all their generosity, but what did God want? He said by all means go ahead and show them the same kindness. They requested spaghetti with meatballs and sausage and mushrooms and lots of spices. In preparation I filled a huge kettle with water to which I added a very generous layer of oil to keep the spaghetti from sticking. When my two guests arrived they got comfortable in the living room – just a few feet from the kitchen where I had brought the water & oil to a ROLLING BOIL. Upon lifting the kettle to move it, it slipped from my hands and fell back on the stove. Water and oil (did I mention a “rolling boil”?) splashed out everywhere – all over the stove, fridge and ME! My face and arms were covered with boiling oil-water! But … I .. did .. not .. feel .. a .. thing! Nothing whatsoever! I reached behind me and grabbed a towel without saying a word to my guests since there was no reason to alarm them. Finally one of them got up and came into the kitchen and looked around at the water everywhere. She didn’t say a thing and neither did I.
(THERE WAS NOT A TRACE OF BURNING SKIN, BOILING OIL IN THE FACE, EYES, NECK, ARMS. NOTHING WHATSOEVER!)