Helping Another … A Story of Doing Good Deeds

One of the most beautiful compensations in life is that no man can help another without helping himself.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whether it is our good thoughts, actions or behavior, sooner or later helping another will return good results. Treat people with respect and kindness and you will usually be amazed at what returns back at you.

This is one such story. It has been reported in many places with no identifiable author. It is certainly worth sharing.

True story

This is a true story that had happened in 1892 at Stanford University. An 18-year-old student and a friend were struggling to pay school fees. He was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. His friend and he decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money. They would apply the earnings from the event to offset their unpaid board and tuition. They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck.

And the boys began to work to make the concert a success. The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford. But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1600.

After the concert, the two boys told the great artist the bad news. They gave him the entire $1,600, along with a promissory note for $400, explaining that they would earn the amount at the earliest possible moment and send the money to him. It looked like the end of their college careers.

“No, boys,” replied Paderewski, “that won’t do.” Then, tearing the note in two, he returned the money to them as well. “Now,” he told them, “take out of this $1,600 all of your expenses and keep for each of you 10 percent of the balance for your work. Let me have the rest.”

The boys were surprised and thanked him profusely. It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being.

Time passes

Twenty years rolled by. World War I came and went. Paderewski, now Prime Minister of Poland, was striving to feed thousands of starving people in his native land. He was a great leader, but unfortunately at the end of the World War, Poland was ravaged. There were more than 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them. Paderewski reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.

The head there was a man named Herbert Hoover — who later would go on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food grains to feed the starving Polish people.

Good deed results

A calamity was averted. Paderewski decided to go and meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said,

“You shouldn’t be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but many years ago, you helped two young students go through college in the US. I was one of them.”

The lessons

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Goodness has a way of coming back; that is the nature of the beast. One doesn’t have to do good deeds for a return. It just happens.

The lessons out of good deeds remain to inspire everyone to do the same. One act of unselfishness stands out as a beacon for others to follow.