“He had been given something freely and passed it freely on…”
Reading : Read chapters 19-25. Consider reading with some quiet music playing or with a candle lit. What can you do to “soften” your reading environment, to make it cozy for you?
Kind Action : First, finish reading the book. Then use your wisdom and intuition to guide you. Tap into it. Trust it. Allow it to point you to a kind action that speaks to your heart and then unfolds from your heart. This may be more poignant if you wait to do so until you have finished reading the book.
Storytelling : This week, the last one of our class, write a story of something that happens in your life during the week. Put it in the standard 3 paragraph form we’ve been using. The idea here is to trust the process, that a meaningful and poignant story will naturally emerge.
Comments Section : Ask a question related in some way to your experience in this class. This could be directed to another class member, to me, to yourself. It could be rhetorical in nature. Be open to it. Of course, share with us anything else you’d like to share.
Kind Living 
I have just finished reading the last section, a second time. I am disturbed by the ending. What do you all make of it? Did Tommy get his just rewards for ‘using’ the money or is that too simplistic? Was the ‘kind man’ just like us and while we will not have a miracle happen in our lives, we have to live for the right reasons and not because we expect a reward? Please tell me how you feel about the moral of this story.
Linda – I too was troubled by the ending. I read this book the first time when I purchased it for the course. And I have just finished re-reading it again. And in some ways I am still not sure what to make of it.
I guess in some ways I think that the moral of the story is to follow your heart, and your intentions and what you believe in. Tommy knew that accepting payment was wrong – or rather that it felt wrong to him. He felt that strongly. Yet eventually he talked himself into it. And it went against what he knew to be right.
I think also once he accepted payment, he accepted recognition for what he was able to do, and then pride became involved. Previous to that, he knew that he had been blessed with this gift, but really it was not of his doing. Yet once he accepted payment, it became about HIM. Prior to that, he was just performing an act of kindness. Without making it about himself.