An Abundance of Virtues: Stories About People Who Have Changed My Life

By Richard H. Schneider

DISCOVER A DEEP SENSE OF HOPE
IN THE WORLD AROUND US
A celebration of life, An Abundance of Virtues contains true stories about people who have exemplified one of the five virtues of faith, compassion, truth, courage, and grace. Author Richard H. Schneider, a journalist for more than fifty years presents slice-of-life vignettesboth personal and from interviews he conducted throughout his thirty-eight-year career as an editor with Guideposts magazine.
An Abundance of Virtues narrates stories about teacher Marva Collins, who helped failing schoolchildren achieve academic excellence through the power of grace; Reginald Andrews, who leapt onto subway tracks to save a man he didnt know; Jimmy Stewart, whose faith guided him through horrific air battles in World War II; and Donald Seibert, whose commitment to truth helped him rise to become CEO of a major corporation.
As a strong ship carries things useful for life and can be a refuge from suffering, the inspirational narratives relayed in An Abundance of Virtues provide motivation and can help others face the challenges on their lifes journey.
For some thirty years Dick Schneider was the soul of Guideposts. These are some of his greatest stories ever.
Edward Grinnan, Editor in Chief, Guideposts Magazine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Sep 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781462401796

Richard H. Schneider

Richard H. Schneider has been a journalist and author for more than 50 years and has written more than 20 books for adults and children. A former senior staff editor at Guideposts, an interfaith inspirational magazine, he is a World War II veteran. He and his wife, Betty, are residents of Rye, New York, where Schneider served as vice commander of Post 128 of the American Legion and a lay leader of the Rye United Methodist Church.

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Copyright © 2012 Richard H. Schneider

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4624-0178-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0180-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0179-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012941396

Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 08/27/2012

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Faith

The Virtue Of Faith

… And Then The Rooster Crowed!

Trouble, Thank You

Guideposts Family Day Of Prayer

Anchor Watch

How To Be An Eskimo

Star Of Wonder

The Meaning Of Hog Pen Gap

Quake!

Act Of Faith

I’ll Never Forget You, Starr West Jones

A Different Kind Of Traveling Salesman

His Mysterious Ways

Compassion

The Virtue Of Compassion

The Good Ship

Final Salute

On The Job

All Alone Out There

Spring Break Away

A Dance To Remember

A Cat Named Sweetie

A Blessing Of Bears

World’s Largest Rummage Sale

The Arlington Ladies

Gordie Howe: Hockey’s Genial Giant

It Is A Wonderful Life

Truth

The Virtue Of Truth

Getting There

The Golden Door

Be Careful, It’s Contagious!

Remembering

Lady Liberty And The Honest Man

Neighbors

Finding The View In The Viewfinder

Break Out Of Boredom

A Place Like Home

A Boat For A Fisherman

A Sea Change

David Buckley Had An Idea

Kinfolk

Sincerely

Courage

The Virtue Of Courage

Dying For Their Faith

Lights Along The Shore

The Day Dad Sold Dixie

A Grand New Flag

Flight From Fear

The Four Chaplains—Fifty Years After

Iona

A Long, Cold Walk

Wagons West

Two Good Men

A Son Called Peter

Grace

The Virtue Of Grace

The Snoopy Factor

Chain Reaction

Tv Is Touched By An Angel

Guideposts Visits Lew Ayres

Getting The Best Of The Blues

I Will Not Let You Fail

The Shy Visitor

The Steamship Glasses

Afterword

For Betty, who has made the last sixty-six years of my life so wonderful.

Without the publishing acumen of David Morris, vice president of Guideposts Books and Inspiration Media, and the indefatigable work of my assistant, Sharon Azar, this book would have never seen the light of day.

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How many are your works, Lord!

In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number—

living things both large and small.

There the ships go to and fro,

and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

Psalm 104:24–26 (NIV)

Ordinary people who accomplished the extraordinary through the strength of their virtues, inspired me to try to follow their example.

Richard H. Schneider

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Foreword

Strength that Spends Itself on Others

The year was 1967, and a group of editors was seated around a table in Guidepost’s editorial office in New York City. We were reading the finalists in a story-writing contest to decide who would attend the first Guideposts Writers Workshop.

In the end, we chose only twelve manuscripts from among the thousands of entries. The prize would be a grueling week of writing, rewriting, and editing under the guidance of Guideposts editors, all of us sequestered in an isolated French chateau on New York’s Long Island Sound. From before breakfast until long after dinner, we’d conduct a kind of learning marathon.

From the very beginning of the week, one participant stood out. His name was Richard Schneider, whose bio told us he worked in Chicago for the publicity department of Walgreens Drugstores. What intrigued me about Dick was that he never seemed to tire. First to get up in the morning, last to get to bed, he was regularly seated late at night in the chateau lounge rewriting his manuscript on a battered typewriter with the old-fashioned hunt-and-peck method.

But also, Dick found time for others. It was he who brought hot chocolate to a fellow student with a cold. It was he who had the kindest word for someone else’s work. And it was he who often led our morning prayers. Clearly Dick was a strong guy. Very strong.

A few years later, Guideposts asked Dick to move to New York and join our editorial team. Dick proved to be outstanding at ferreting out stories, interviewing subjects, writing, editing. We joked that he was a one-man editorial staff. But beyond working with manuscripts, again, it was Dick who visited sick staffers or soothed a colleague whose work had been rejected. Where did this man find his capacity to give?

Now, after several years at the magazine, Dick has retired with time to write this eye-opening book about virtue. As I picked up the manuscript, I wondered how he would handle such a seemingly old-fashioned subject.

We usually think of virtue as referring to moral behavior. But the Bible uses the word very differently. There, virtue means strength. Virtue and virility are related words, virtue implying strength expended on behalf of others. Luke uses the word in recounting the story of the woman with the issue of blood, which no doctor had been able to staunch. In desperation, she reaches out and touches just the hem of Jesus’ garment. As she does, Jesus felt virtue go out of Him. Strength that achieves in an instant what years of spending all her living on various cures could not. This is the strength that responds to the pain of others and reaches out to heal. It is the virtue Dick describes in this book.

Elizabeth and John Sherrill

Introduction

It was while walking down a Baltimore street one fall evening with hockey great Gordie Howe that I gained a new insight into what we commonly know as virtues: the better angels of our nature, as Abraham Lincoln called them.

I had come down from New York to interview Gordie Howe for Guideposts. His team at the time, the Houston Aeros, had just won a hard-fought battle with the Baltimore Blades, and we were walking back from the stadium to his hotel. He had suggested that we meet after the game, though I could tell that this forty-seven-year-old man was exhausted.

Even so, fans had trailed after us from the stadium, asking for autographs and trying to engage him in conversation. I had seen other sports stars at times like this, and it was not uncommon to see them simply ignore the fans or turn them away with a brusque Some other time.

But not Gordie Howe.

He patiently stopped and exchanged a word or two with each of the eager fans and then cheerfully signed dozens of autographs there under the street light. I could see all too clearly why he was popularly known as the Genial Giant.

Later that night, as I rode the train back to New York, I found myself musing on Howe’s selfless and giving attitude toward his fans: the word that came to mind was compassion, a virtue if there ever was one.

Now, many years later, I find myself reflecting back on the more than eight hundred men and women I had interviewed in my thirty-eight years with Guideposts. I realize that each of those people and the stories they shared can be characterized by one of the many virtues. Words like faith, truth, compassion, courage, and grace come to mind, and though there are many other qualities that could fit the definition of a virtue, I feel that these five are perhaps the most significant in how one conducts one’s life.

As I reread these many stories, it struck me just how much each of these people had affected my own life. Remembering Gordie Howe patiently greeting his fans made me acutely aware of the fact that compassion was not one of my better angels. As a result, I strove to deal with my own impatience and to stop and consider what the other person might be feeling. I’m still working on this, but just thinking back on Gordie Howe standing under that streetlamp in Baltimore helps me try to do better.

As so it was with each of the people whose stories are included here: teacher Marva Collins, who helped failing schoolchildren achieve academic excellence through the power of grace … brave Reginald Andrews, who leapt onto subway tracks to save a man he didn’t know … Jimmy Stewart, whose faith guided him through horrific air battles in World War II … and Donald Seibert, whose commitment to truth helped him rise to become CEO of a major corporation. Each of these people—and the virtues they made a signal part of their lives—has served as a motivator for me to walk in their footsteps.

I hope their stories provide you with the same inspiration.

FAITH

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The Virtue of Faith

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6

Faith means much the same as trust, which brings to mind a large rock my son, Peter, and his wife, Jennifer, lugged into our backyard one day when my wife, Betty, and I faced a traumatic time. In our late eighties, we were preparing to sell our house and move to a retirement home and were beset with worries. Could we sell the house in a falling market? If so, would there be enough money left to enter a suitable place?

That’s when the rock came into our garden. On its side was deeply inscribed the admonition Trust. And that’s when Betty and I started thinking positively. God, whose teachings we had tried to follow, had sustained us through sixty-five years of marriage, had given us two sons who had brightened our lives, and had seen us through some major health problems. So why not trust his seeing us through what was to come?

So we did. Our house sold at a fair price, and we were able to move into the Osborne Retirement Home right in our own familiar community of Rye, where we are very happy.

In the end, faith is trusting that as we walk into the dark, he will be there to sustain us.

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Following is my first story to appear in Guideposts. It all came about because Betty chose to be on a particular escalator while shopping at the Marshall Field’s department store in downtown Chicago.

As she descended, she noticed a display of writers’ market books. She knew I had written this story but couldn’t find a home for it, including my own denominational magazine. So she bought a copy for me instead of going to the shoe department, where she had been heading. At home, I gratefully examined the book and found a listing for Guideposts. I had never heard of the magazine, but my story seemed a good fit.

It was. Other stories then followed, to where I was invited to join the staff in 1969.

Some people call Betty’s escalator choice a coincidence. But I don’t believe there are coincidences with God.

… And Then the Rooster Crowed!

It started one night when I looked in the mirror and asked myself, Are you afraid to stand up for your convictions?

At once, I recalled a famous scene from the Bible where the cock’s crow signaled the moral weakness of a famous disciple. From that moment, as if in answer to a plea for help, a rooster seemed to sit on my shoulder wherever I went. He followed me to work, went with me to social affairs, and just the other day crowed loudly in church after our pastor had given a sermon on race relations.

Several of us were leaving the church, and one of the women asked me, Don’t you think he’s carrying that subject a bit too far?

I’ve always admired this woman and her husband, not only because of the success they’ve achieved in life, but because I respected their opinions. And I hoped they liked me. So despite my own convictions, I mumbled an agreeable platitude.

Then the rooster crowed, catching me short. I stopped, considered her question in the light of my true opinion, and said that I thought perhaps the subject had not been carried far enough. This sparked a lively discussion on the issue. Although we reached no momentous decisions, I’m sure we all gained from comparing honest feelings on the matter.

More and more lately, I can feel this rooster ruffling his feathers when discussions begin in which, sooner or later, I must take a stand on what I believe to be right. And whenever, as so often happens, I’m afraid to buck the crowd or disagree with an individual, I know how the apostle Peter felt when he heard that raucous reminder one early dawning.

You know the story … how after Christ was taken before Pilate, His followers scattered like sparrows before a winter’s gale. Peter slunk into a public courtyard for the warmth of a night watch fire. A servant girl recognized him and said, This man was also with Him.

Each of us can sympathize with Peter when he tremblingly responded, Woman, I know Him not.

Three times that awful night, Peter denied his Master. And the rooster’s cry seared his soul with the memory of his Lord’s prophecy:

Before the cock crows thou shalt deny Me thrice. And we know that Peter went out and wept bitterly. Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, This man was with him (Luke 22:54–62, NIV).

Today, everywhere that scene at the watch fire is reenacted over and over again—in an office discussion, in a club meeting, in a conversation between two neighbors in a supermarket. Oh, the temptation to nod politely in agreement with something you do not believe! Why do we avoid involvement in an issue? Is it really in the interest of harmony? Or do we fear being set apart and considered somehow … different?

It happened again in my home the other night. We were entertaining a couple with whom we’d recently become acquainted. During the after-dinner conversation, they became quite emphatic in their condemnation of another religious group. To preserve the warmth of the table, I was about to anesthetize my conscience until the conversation turned to more pleasant matters.

But I heard from the rooster. And I had to say that we knew many fine people in this other religious group, and that we believed in judging everyone as an individual, not as a member of any group. Rather than chilling the atmosphere, it sparked an honest sharing of viewpoints.

I remember another party when the name of a mutual acquaintance, not present, popped up in the conversation. Unfortunately, as far as party gossip was concerned, his bad points outweighed his good points. I could have said something in his defense. I could have helped salvage his name, but I just smiled and reached for another potato chip—until the rooster crowed.

Marooned at night on a lonely highway in a brand-new car that had broken down twice—and then asked to praise God for it? How nutty can one get?

Trouble, Thank You

What a mess, I moaned. The rusty chair squeaked under me as I stared dejectedly at a semitrailer groaning up a hill on the nearby interstate.

Well, said my wife, Betty, sitting next to me. Have you thought about praising God for it?

I shot her a jaundiced look. Praise Him for being marooned with two small sons in a second-rate motel whose only amenities were two steel porch chairs outside the door?

Our ordeal had started the day before, Saturday, on Interstate 80 in the mountains of Pennsylvania. We had been happily heading to Chicago from New Jersey to see our families. What made our vacation extra special was driving a brand-new 1972 Oldsmobile 88. But after driving through the Pocono Mountains, the car’s water pump failed and we were towed into a service garage near a small town south of Williamsport. The mechanic couldn’t get a replacement part until Monday, so we were trapped for three days.

Praise God? As I returned to my dismal highway perusal, I recalled when this subject had first come up. A friend was telling Betty and me that praising God for everything was a Christian principle. I thought it outlandish.

It’s true, he claimed. It says in First Thessalonians to praise God in all circumstances.

Even in the worst of the worst? I said somewhat sardonically.

Sure, he pressed on. It says right here. He whipped out his ever-present Bible. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:18 RSV).

Afterward, Betty chided me for my sarcasm. It makes sense to me, she said.

I waved her away. He’s just another one of those starry-eyed cloud-niners who get hooked on one verse in the Bible and take it too literally.

Now recalling the conversation, I shifted fretfully in the metal chair. Praise God for wasting three days of our vacation in a broken-down motel in the middle of nowhere? I shook my head. I believed in God and Christ’s salvation but that praising stuff was from la-la land.

I was relieved when Monday night came. Earlier, the mechanic had returned from Harrisburg with a new water pump. At 10:00 p.m., he proudly wiped his hands on his coveralls and said, That should take care of it.

Having lost three vacation days, I decided to drive on through the night. After all, I had had plenty of sleep. It was quiet in the car as we headed west, our headlights boring holes in the dark. The highway was nearly deserted at this hour; only occasionally did we see another car. The boys were asleep in the backseat, and my wife was dozing. Shadowy hulks of mountains slid by as we entered a particularly lonely stretch.

Well, I said to my wife. We should make Chicago by noon tomorrow.

Umm, uhh, she murmured.

I was about to turn on the radio when whoosh! White steam gushed out from under the hood, and the engine temperature light on the dashboard glowed red. Dear God, not again! I gasped. Not here, Father, not here in the middle of nowhere, I thought as we coasted onto the shoulder.

I stared incredulously at Betty, who stared back at me. Neither of us could say anything. I looked out the window. A mammoth, pitch-black mountain wall loomed above us. Reluctantly opening the door, I stepped out into the cool night and raised the hood. Steam sputtered from the new water pump. I spat an angry expletive. Our nightmare had started, the worst of the worst.

There was no sign of life nearby, just miles of undulating mountain ridges against the night sky. Only the hiss of steam broke the stillness. My anger congealed into fear. We were stranded with no hope of help. I fought