One night the leader of the teenage group had a bad toothache. The boy's mother sent the young fellow to the dentist to be examined. The dentist found the tooth in need of expensive repair and offered to take care of it. The boy refused. He said his family could not afford it. The dentist persuaded the lad to let him do the repairs.

The dentist didn't send the boy a bill. Soon he forgot the incident. That summer the dentist left town for an extended vacation. When he returned, he found that his lawn had been well cared for during all that time by the teenager whose tooth he had repaired. The lad just smiled and said, "A tooth for a tooth."

When the dentist first had trouble with the neighborhood kids, he could have harbored real resentment. What good would it have done? Instead, the dentist was kind, and reaped the benefits.

Ron Newhouse