You’ve probably heard the saying, no good deed goes unpunished, a sardonic commentary on the frequency with which acts of kindness can backfire on those who offer them in an ungrateful world. The opposite is also true: no good deed goes unrewarded. God blesses the cheerful giver, as St. Paul says. What goes around comes around and your good deed towards another will come back to bless you as Morris Devlin discovered. This is his story.

Morris had just fumbled in his pocket for his wallet when he realized, with consternation, it was not there.

As the long line of cars slowly snaked their way across the toll plaza, Morris checked the dashboard, the car seats, and the floor beneath him. Not there. How was he going to pay the toll and get home?

Anxiously scanning the cars stretched across the toll plaza in an endless procession, Morris searched for a familiar face. He was in luck. Sitting in a car several lanes away was David, a man with whom Morris was vaguely acquainted. Morris put his car in park and dashed across the lanes that separated him from David, hastily explaining his dilemma. David reached into his wallet, and extracted the dollar toll and handed it to Morris with a cheerful smile.

“Pleasure to help you out,” he told Morris.

“Hey, thanks. Next time I see you, I’ll give it back,” said Morris as he sprinted back to his car.

“Forget about it!” shouted David, “it’s only a dollar!”

Twelve years later, Morris was leaving Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, where he had been visiting his wife, who had just given birth. As he approached his car he noticed he was just in time to avoid a traffic violation by an officer of the Department of Transportation.

Morris stole a look at the car parked behind his and observed that the time on the meter had expired. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the officer’s determined approach. What a shame for this person to have to get a fifty-dollar ticket, he thought. Impulsively, he pulled four quarters out of his pocket and slipped them into the meter just as the officer advanced toward the car. His ‘good deed dollar,’ saved the man fifty dollars.

At the same time, the owner of the car advanced as well, eyeing the scene: the officer’s rapid approach and Morris’s preemptive strike, as the quarters slid quickly into the slot.

“Hey, thanks a lot!” said David. They looked at each other in awe wondering if this strange reunion could possibly be true. They hadn’t seen each other in twelve years. David was also returning from a visit to Mount Sinai where his wife had just given birth.

They smiled at each other in recognition, remembering the dollar at the toll plaza twelve years before –the dollar that Morris had not yet had the opportunity to repay. Until now.

“Hey, one good deed deserves another!” exclaimed Morris jovially, as he shook hands with David and drove off.

—Offered by Morris Devlin.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy