<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2722" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 8/15/2005 11:03:16 PM Central Standard Time, marypianosmith@yahoo.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size= =2>Oh gosh, I can't resist jumping in here. I have often noticed how lonely people see= m to be, particularly when I have been in their home for 1-2 hours. They seem t= o ened someone to talk to. So, if I possibly can, I listen. But I agree, one= must set one's boundaries and stick to them. It's part of my life's missio= n, I guess, quite apart from my professional mission, to be kind when I can...<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV>One of my regular customers called to have her piano tuned. When I got there, she seemed rather depressed, but she led me to the piano, and I tuned= it. Afterwards I asked if she was all right. She told me her husband had just di= ed the week before. I asked her why she wanted her piano tuned, under the circumstances. She said the piano gave her comfort. We wound up talking for about 2 hours. Even though I had other appointments, I realized sh= e needed to talk. I was honored to be able to spend this quality time with thi= s wonderful lady. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There have been other instances where I wound up being late to my next appointment because a customer "needed" to talk to me. Althought there are times where you just want the customer to shut up and leave you alo= ne, but, as Mary said, there are times when listening to other people's problems, and giving them comfort, is part of our life's missions.= </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>