carlsgarden

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a
big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for
over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight
of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from
a bullet wound received in WW II. Watching him, we worried that although he
had survived WW II, he may not make it through our changing uptown
neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug
activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring
for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his
characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared
finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three
gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he
simply asked, "Would you like a drink from the hose?"

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, "Yeah, sure", with a
malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two
grabbed Carl's arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the
ground, dousing everything in its way, his assailants stole his retirement
watch and his wallet, and then fled. Carl tried to get himself up, but he
had been thrown down on his bad leg.

He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help
him. Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he
couldn't get there fast enough to stop it. "Carl, are you okay? Are you
hurt?" the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet. Carl just
passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head.

"Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday." His wet clothes
clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the
nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, "Carl, what are you
doing?"

"I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately" came the calm
reply. Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister
could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was
unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink form his hose. This time they
didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head
to foot in the icy water.

When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down
the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing
at the hilarity of what they had just done. Carl just watched them. Then he
turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with
his watering.

The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when
he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled
and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his
footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormenters reaching
down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack. "Don't worry old
man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time." The young man spoke softly, still
offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl.

As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and
handed it to Carl. "What's this?" Carl asked.

"It's your stuff," the man explained. "It's your stuff back. Even the money
in your wallet."

"I don't understand," Carl said. "Why would you help me now?"

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. "I learned
something from you", he said. "I ran with that gang and hurt people like
you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But
every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and
fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating
you. You kept showing love against our hate." He stopped for a moment.

"I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back." He paused
for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. "That
bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess." And with
that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took
out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet,
he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride
that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his
funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall
young man that he didn't know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the
church. The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life. In a voice
made thick with unshed tears, he said, "Do your best and make your garden
as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden."

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: "Person needed to care
for Carl's garden." The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until
one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door. Opening the
door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the
flyer. "I believe this is my job, if you'll have me," the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the
stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl's kindness had turned
this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden
shed, he said, "Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him."

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the
flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done. In that time, he went to
college, got married and became a prominent member of the community. But he
never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful
as he thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care
for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, "My
wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on
Saturday."

"Well, congratulations!" said the minister, as he was handed the garden
shed keys. "That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?"

"Carl" he replied.

"'But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever
hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away
your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who
asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.
And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way. And
if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even
sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good
to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if
you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to
you? Even sinners lend to sinners, in order to receive back the same
amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in
return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most
High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful. And do not judge and you will
not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon,
and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you; good measure,
pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap.
For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.'"
(Luke 6:27-38 NASB)

~Author unknown~

Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me
Let There Be Peace on Earth
The peace that was meant to be

With God as our Father
Brothers all are we
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With ev'ry step I take
Let this be my solemn vow;

To take each moment and live
Each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me