The kindness of strangers

We had it in mind this week to bring some statistics regards the miles we have covered since our training began for our long walk, then I thought, "is it just me or has anyone ever thought that the word statistics is easier to type than speak?" Every time I try to say that word I'm sure I sound like "Kaa" the snake from the 1964 Disney film based around Rudyard Kiplings "The Jungle Book". It's a film by the way which is one of my all time favourites, with Baloo the Bear, voiced by Phil Harris, being my absolute favourite character. 

Even as I type this I'm singing to myself with the voice of Baloo in my head "The bare necessities of life, I'm also smiling that by mentioning the song some of our readers might have an ear-worm of it right now ringing in their ears. Now there are many lessons we can learn from the story but for me, the story in the Disney Movie portrays, to my mind anyway, "the kindness of strangers", albeit it is about some of the animals, i.e. The wolf pack who raise the boy, Bagheera the black panther, Baloo the Bear and the elephants on their dawn patrol looking out for Mowgli, the little boy. 

The animals in a sense are the strangers Mowgli met, granted some became surrogate parents and raised him, others tried in their own way to protect and nurture him.

Then I remembered a song that Jim Reeves used to sing, "A strangers just a friend we do not know". 

Over the last few weeks Shona and I have met many strangers when we have been 'oot an aboot" walking and we have been overwhelmed by the encouragement we have received. A few weeks ago whilst making our way to Stirling we met a man who, when he found out why we were walking and that we were trying to raise funds for Cancer Research UK, he told us he had been diagnosed with "prostate cancer" and was currently undergoing treatment. When we got home that night we discovered he had donated via our fundraising page.

On the way we met a couple of ladies as we were walking through St. Ninians in Stirling, the ladies were  going for a bus. A little later we met them at Banockburn when they were getting off the bus. They remarked that they had seen us at St Ninians and asked had we walked, we said yes and that we were in training. To cut a long story short when they found out why one of these dear ladies went right into her purse and handed us £10. 

Then just last week we were getting some printing done at Rymans, the following day when we went in to collect it the lady said she had covered the cost herself. Shona and I have met so many people on our walks and have been quite humbled by the encouragement and generosity of complete strangers. 

Thinking about this made me consider that in the Bible there are many instances that reveal he kindness of strangers, probably the most well-known would be the story of the Good Samaritan. However, I was more inclined to think of another story concerning a man whose name I have great difficulty in saying.  

It is about a man called Mephibosheth, over the years, when I have tried to say his name it came out as MESHIBOFETH, MEBIFOSHEB or some other way. It took me years to master it until I learned it phonetically which is: MEH-FIB-OH-SHETH.

But who was Mephibosheth? He was the grandson of Saul the first Israel King, sadly though he was lame in both feet due to an accident when he was five. This happened when word came that His Grandfather Saul and his father Johnathon had been killed in battle as his nurse lifted him and fled in a panic she dropped the child after which Mephibosheth was unable to walk. 

The next King, who in many ways was a stranger to the youngster, sought him out some time later and brought him into a place of honour in the royal household and provided for him the rest of his life. He did this in memory of his friendship with Mephibosheths’ father Johnathon and to keep a promise he had made many years earlier. 

If you would like to read more about this then get the old bible down from the shelf, blow the dust off it turn to the Old Testament and read the story in the Second Book of Samuel Chapter 9: 

Oh dear, I've not managed to get round to the statistics, maybe another time.......