30/11/2025
CHAPLAIN'S CORNER
One day, a few weeks ago as I was getting ready to leave for home, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I looked around my office but didn’t see it, so I figured I had left it in the car. When I got to the car it was not there either. I called my wife, and she checked around the house as I was driving home, but when I got home, she had not found it. We both began to look in any possible place I may have misplaced it, even looking out in our garden just in case I dropped it while checking on some vegetables. We decided to go back to my office and check there again. Not long after we started out our next-door neighbor called to tell us a man had been at our front door and said he had found a wallet; he had knocked but we had not answered. He wanted to make sure the person still lived there. She told him my name, and he said that it was my wallet. So, he left it on our front porch. He would not give her his name, so we didn’t have a way to thank him in person. We turned the car around and there was my wallet sitting on the front porch, and nothing was missing. When we asked our neighbor what time he had been there she said it had been about 20 minutes, we were at home looking around the house and didn’t hear him knocking. I wish we had so I could have thanked him and let him know how grateful I was he returned it.
Looking back, I had been running late that morning and had parked by the lake, so I figured that I had somehow dropped it after I got out of our car and headed up the hill to TVH. This kind person drove out of his way to our home to return my wallet.
I was extremely thankful for his returning my wallet, not just because of the things I would lose, but canceling and replacing cards and licenses would take a great deal of time and inconvenience. This thoughtful person reminds me that in a very divided world, there are still many caring and considerate people; and that also makes me thankful. This person didn’t know who I was, he didn’t know if we agreed on politics or religion, he just did the compassionate thing of returning my wallet. I don’t know if he agrees with me on anything, but I am grateful for his thoughtfulness and wish I could thank him in person.
After going through the recent state elections and coming up on Thanksgiving when friends and family gather; it is good to be reminded that we can disagree with each other and still remain friends. Many of us are very passionate about our beliefs, whether political, religious or cultural. When those beliefs are challenged by someone who just as passionately disagrees with us, it is easy for a discussion to turn divisive and alienate family or friends. Perhaps we can find a better way. What if we could discuss our differences and then turn discussions to the things we have in common. We could try the question Tom Sietsema, the former food critic for the Washington Post, asks his dinner guests:
“Given the state of the world, the question I ask everyone I break bread with these days is: What brings you joy?”
How might our view of someone who votes differently than you change if we discover they love the same movies that make us laugh or cry? Imagine discovering that your neighbor, who is from a different faith, shares your passion for gardening or fishing? Perhaps learning about each other’s joys rather than arguing about our differences can make this a world that feels a little kinder and a lot more connected.
