ON Wednesday while speaking at a function on the role of writers I saw a young lady putting her head down every time I said we all had a role to play in changing peoples lives.
I met her afterwards during the tea break: “You didn’t seem to be agreeing with what I said?” I asked her. “You are different,” she said, “you’re a writer, I’m only a banker!” “If you’ll permit me,” I told the audience, after the tea break, “I’d like to repeat a small story to all of you, a cop story, told by a cop!”
“It was some years ago I stopped a man about thirty years old for speeding down a country road. As I approached his car, I could tell he was upset with me, with life, or with whatever. As a rule I have always tried to treat the public as I would want my family treated. I admit I haven’t always succeeded, but I’ve tried, and I tried to do so with the young man!”
“I told him life was too good to blow it up with havin’ an accident while speeding. A few weeks later I was called to my Captain’s office before the start of my shift. He had in front of him a letter from the man I had stopped and another addressed to me.”
“I thought to myself, “Oh boy, here we go. Now I have to defend myself for doing my job. But to my amazement I was so completely wrong. In the Captains letter he thanked me for my professional conduct and for writing him a ticket. In my letter he thanked me for my conduct and for the advice I’d given him and the concern I had for him.”
“He went on to say I’d saved his life: It seemed his life that day was spinning out of control, and he’d made up his mind to end his life by crashing into something at a high speed. He was stopped by me, and what changed his mind where my kind words to him, he was surprised someone cared enough to talk him out of speeding!”
“Of all the letters and cards I have ever received in my life, I cherish this the most; whenever I feel down and wonder about my job, my life and future, I look at it and know I’ve been put here by my Lord and I’ll always be in the right place at the right time, even if I’m only a cop!”
There were tears in the young lady’s eyes in the audience as I finished, but as I continued my talk I saw new enthusiasm in her face as she realized there was a divine purpose in her being a banker..!
