because I get a feeling of goodness. Yesterday, prior to leaving the shoe repair shop, the owner asked me if I would make a deposit on the work he was going to do. ‘A deposit?’ I asked. He looked hopeful. ‘I can pay the whole bill,’ I replied. ‘I’m not going anywhere and neither are you, so let me just pay it all.’ It meant he would have the use of my money for less than a week. He smiled one of those deep-felt smiles and said ‘Thank you. Thank you so much I need the money’ Now he has a successful business, but he works 6 days a week with one helper from 7am to 8 pm. He rarely takes time off, he shop is always filled with repairs to be paid for and more folks bring stuff in, but he must have hit a rough patch. It is my experience that the average person is having a struggle each and every day. While he was putting away my work to be completed, he complimented me on the bag into which I was putting the shoe polish. ‘I like your bag’, he said. ‘Would you like it?’ I asked. He looked at me dumbfounded. ‘You may have it,’ I finished up. ‘Right now?’ he asked. ‘Sure,’ I replied. ‘I can put the few things left in it, in my other bag, now that I’ve left these repairs with you.’ The look of just pure joy on his face was my reward. And the bag? This summer, when I was in Oregon, I went to Trader Joe’s on 21st and something and bought a $2.95 jute bag to carry ice K and I were buying to cool the wine on the drive to the coast. I had not seen such a bag here in the City, and found it sturdy, large and somehow magnificent. It stood on it’s own. It has now gone off to another life.