Friday, October 7, 2011

What Goes Around Comes Around

His name was Fleming and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day while working in his field, he heard a cry for help. He dropped his tools and ran to the nearby bog as fast as he could.

There, stuck up to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself.  Fleming sprung into action and saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse farm.  An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming saved the day before.

"I want to repay you for saving my son's life," said the nobleman.
 
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied waving off any thought of an offer.  At that moment, Fleming’s son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.
 
"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.
 
"Then I'll make you a deal.  Let me provide your son with the same level of education as my own son will enjoy.  If your lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow up to be a man we can both be proud of."

Farmer Fleming agreed to this arrangement and his son, as promised, attended the very best schools in England and ultimately graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London.  He went on to become known throughout the world as Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Unfortunately this story doesn’t end here, for you see years later, the nobleman's son – the boy who got stuck in the bog and was saved by Sir Fleming's father - was stricken with pneumonia and nearly died.  What saved his life this time was a new miracle drug called Penicillin. 

The name of the nobleman who paid for the education of farmer Fleming's son was Lord Randolph Churchill ... His son, the boy who fell in the bog and later nearly died from pneumonia, was Sir Winston Churchill.

Maybe it’s true?  What goes around comes around.