This past weekend, I benefited greatly from a random act of extreme kindness on the part of a member of the ISU community. I’d absent-mindedly left my backpacks and tool box in the Maple-Willow-Larch parking lot while switching vehicles and, presumably, bringing my luggage with me.

Four hundred miles away and in the middle of the night, I discovered I hadn’t repacked my luggage. It was too late to call and accomplish much, so all I could do was stew and regret my lack of “focus” until I got back to campus a full day later.

The fate of my valuable stuffÿwas, however, in far more gracious hands than I dared hope for. Some generous, honest person had seen the bags and turned them over to the Department of Public Safety. They found my name and number in the bags, called our house and arranged for the bags to be picked up.

That type of honesty might not be rare, but it sure feels good to find it. I’m deeply grateful to this kind person: Your help saved me a lot of grief and inconvenience. Honesty and chivalry aren’t dead — they’re quietly hanging out at Iowa State!

Thank you very much. Your standards of decency should be adopted by all of us.ÿ

Alan Kline

Alumnus