Fetching Shoes

I read the story of a young firefighter who went on his first big fire call.  When he got there, most of the work had been done.  He mostly stood beside the woman whose house had burned and watched as the veteran firefighters finished their work.  He asked his captain, “Is there anything I can do?”  His captain replied, “Yes.  You can go and get Mrs. Jones some shoes.  She ran out of the house without any.”  So the young firefighter, who had dreams of saving lives, became an errand boy.  He went in and fetched a pair of shoes for Mrs. Jones.

A couple of weeks later, the firehouse got a letter from Mrs. Jones, thanking the brave firefighters for saving her home.  She would be eternally grateful!  But the one thing that stood out in her memory was the kindness that was shown by the young firefighter who went back into the house to get her shoes.  She would never, never forget that.

Moral of the story:  While waiting to do something great, don’t miss the opportunity to do something good.