As Good As You

When Jenna’s taekwondo (跆拳道) instructor, Ms. Baroni, introduced Marti, Jenna’s best friend, to everyone, Jenna, was so excited that Marti would be taking lessons with her.

Class started with warm-up exercises, and then Ms. Baroni divided everyone into color-belt groups. Seeing Marti become red in face and play with the edge of her shirt, Ms. Baroni told the friends to work together, even though Jenna was a yellow belt and a level above Marti, making Marti less nervous on her first day. It suited Jenna fine. She couldn’t wait to demonstrate some basic kicks to Marti. Marti copied her kick as high as Jenna’s shoulder. “Great job, Marti!” said Ms. Baroni, who had walked up behind them. She then spent the next five minutes working with Marti, teaching her how to straighten her leg and snap her foot out to make the legs form a square. Jenna collapsed against the wall and watched Marti copy everything Ms. Baroni did.

The more Marti did, the more praise she earned from Ms. Baroni, and so the more half heartedly Jenna practiced. What if Marti became better than her? What if Marti became Ms. Baroni’s favorite student? “Watch your form!” Who is Ms. Baroni scolding? Jenna wondered. She turned and saw Ms. Baroni looking directly at her. Nothing could have been worse. “Jenna, your side kick could be better than that”, said Ms. Baroni with a slight frown, “You’ve memorized your form perfectly, but your moves are sloppy (马虎的). Make the legs fully extended, point the toes downward, and try again.”

At the end of the class, Jenna grabbed her bag and hurried outside to find her mom. She had planned to wait and say good-bye to Marti, but now she wanted to be alone. For the next several weeks, Marti continued to impress their teacher with her skills. And as Marti turned into a star student, Jenna became less and less excited about taekwondo.

One day, Marti excitedly told Jenna that Ms. Baroni wanted her to be tested for a new belt. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.       

When Marti finished her form, Jenna thought it looked perfect.   ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One day many years ago, 60-year-old Gladys Hankerson picked up the phone to give her sister, who lives in Maryland, a call. But she accidentally called the wrong number, dialing a 401 area code instead of 410. Mike Moffitt, in his 20s, was the one who received Gladys’ call. He politely let the sweet lady from Florida know she’d called the wrong number. “I’m so sorry, child!” she exclaimed and quickly hung up.

But then, sometime later, Gladys misdialed Mike again. It happened several times more, with Gladys apologizing each time for calling the wrong number. Mike didn’t mind a bit. And he eventually stopped Gladys from hanging up to ask who she was and where she lived.

It turned out that Gladys’ 30-year-old son had just died. And she was also going through a divorce. And though she’d called the wrong number, the kindness from this absolute stranger was just what she needed. The time this young man took out of his day to chat with Gladys meant the world to the woman. And she eventually told Mike about the struggles she was facing in her personal life. After that, this sweet woman was calling specifically to chat with her new friend. It wasn’t just Gladys who felt the special connection. Mike enjoyed the chats, too.

For Gladys, Mike was no longer a wrong number. Instead, she began intentionally dialing him every couple of weeks to check in on him. And these two people who started out as absolute strangers, separated by age and many miles, grew to become friends.

“When I’m talking to him, I can feel the love,” Gladys explained. And for Mike, the wrong number put another motherly figure in his life. He pointed out Gladys would sometimes call when Rhode Island got snow. “She would watch my weather, almost like my mom does,” Mike said.

For over 20 years, the two had only ever spoken on the phone.

So a week later, Mike turned up unexpectedly at Gladys’ house.