This is a story I heard today. In order to protect the confidentiality of the persons in the story certain details have been changed.

About a decade ago a local business man was asked by a tourist the best place to see Fungie.   Fungie is a dolphin who has been living in Dingle’s harbor for the past thirty or so years. He, the dolphin, loves attention and has been performing for tourists and locals for quite some time now. There is a statue of him in the harbor. Boat operators take you out to him, money back if Fungie doesn’t show.

So the local business man had a bad heart. He did not have private insurance and therefore was expected to wait a very long time before receiving the proper medical attention. He was in fact not feeling well the day the tourist came around asking about a friendly dolphin. Regardless the man decided to take the tourist on a tour of Dingle in his own car. The tourist is flabbergasted by this completely unsolicited act of kindness. He also senses something wrong with the man. The tourist it turns out is a cardiologist.

If you guess that the tourist /cardiologist fixed the man’s heart you would be right. He did so within a short time of meeting the local business man and refused all payment saying that he just wanted to match the man’s kindness.  The local recently sent a card to the doctor. It read, “Thank you for the last ten years.”

Did that actually happen? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way it’s a good story.