Radio Episode 82: Kindness: How to show kindness to others

<p>"Paul discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person – her name was “Information, Please” and there was nothing she did not know.</p> <p>“Information, Please” could supply anybody’s number and the correct time. Paul’s first personal experience with this genie-in the-bottle came one day while his mother was visiting a neighbour. Amusing himself at the tool bench in the basement, Paul hacked his finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn’t seem to be any reason in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. He walked around the house sucking his throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway.</p> <p>The telephone!</p> <p>Quickly, Paul ran for the foot stool in the parlour and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, he unhooked the receiver in the parlour and held it to his ear. “Information, Please,” he said into the mouthpiece just above his head.</p> <p>A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into Paul’s ear.</p> <p>“Information.”</p> <p>“I hurt my finger,” Paul wailed into the phone.</p> <p>“Isn’t your mother home?” came the question.</p> <p>“Nobody’s home but me” Paul blubbered.</p> <p>“Are you bleeding?” the voice asked.</p> <p>“No,” he replied. “I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts.”</p> <p>“Can you open your icebox?” she asked. He said he could. “Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger,” said the voice.</p> <p>After that, Paul called “Information, Please” for everything. He asked her for help with his geography and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped him with his maths. She told Paul that his pet chipmunk, which he had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruit and nuts. Then, there was the time Petey, the pet canary died. Paul called and told her the sad story.</p> <p>She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child, but Paul was inconsolable. He asked her, “Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap