The office next door to ours is that of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and when it is crowded, people sometimes wander over to us for assistance. One day, a frail older man came in and asked, in broken English, to use a pen.  When I offered him mine, he asked if he could use my stapler as well.  Throughout the day he borrowed other items, and though I'm usually not so accommodating, the determined look in his eyes made him hard to resist.  

I was surprised two weeks later when the same man returned, accompanied by a young woman.  He smiled as she handed me a small American flag.  "I don't know why," she said, "but my father would like you to have this. He told me that without your help, he could not have become a United States citizen."

-Pauline B. Dorsan

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