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Saturday, July 27, 2013

World of Good, Translation Style

It's been a long, long time since I've done a World of Good blog post. Far too long, according to some of my readers. I stopped them because they I felt they had become formulaic and tiresome. Last week, however, gave me an experience that fit perfectly into the WOGs, so here we go with the first installment in the series since who knows when.

While working at Catholic Charities, I helped big, Hispanic man. He was a really nice guy and we chatted a little bit as we went through the menu. It was all good. He got his food and walked out the door. A short while after he walked out, an elderly, Hispanic woman came in and sat down with me. The big guy came in with her and acted as her translator so she knew what I was saying as I went through the menu.

He didn't know her, but he recognized that she needed assistance and turned around from wherever he was going to come back and help her. We have a written menu in several languages, but as far as I could tell she was illiterate as well. Despite whatever personal traumas he was experiencing that led him to our door, he made sure an old woman got what she needed. Because of him, the interaction easy, pleasant and even a little funny for both of us.

That did us a world of good.

Update: Looking back, we last WOGged in 2011. If you want to read the origin of the WOGs, here it is.

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