Sharing my “slightly used” Science and Health with a friend

At the end of February, I spoke with a friend who works at the local YMCA. This friend had been ill for most of the winter and still was not feeling completely well. She told me how difficult it had been for her because pneumonia and “one thing after another” had left her feeling weak and vulnerable. She said to me, “It’s a terrible feeling not being able to do anything to counteract sickness, except pray that the medicine will work!” 

That was when I told her that I had a book she might be interested in reading. I went home and wrote an inscription in a paperback copy of Science and Health that I’d had for a few years (it even had some marginal jottings). Then I dropped it off at the main desk of the YMCA. I told my friend that I’d rather leave a “slightly used’ Science and Health than nothing at all, since I was leaving on a trip the next morning and would be away for over a week.

First feedback: The friend called to say she found the book “very interesting” and wondered if I would like it back. I said no, that she should either keep it or pass it along. She said she’d probably do the latter, but very much appreciated my introducing her to my religion. A few days later I received a postcard from her, with these words printed on the front, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” –Aesop