“I’ve Come to Clean Your Shoes”
By Madge Harrah, from Guideposts, December 1983
The morning of a family funeral, an acquaintance shows up unannounced and says, “I’ve come to clean your shoes.” He spends the day quietly shining every pair in the house. The writer ends with this: “Now, whenever I hear of an acquaintance who has lost a loved one, I try to think of one specific task that suits that person’s need—such as washing the car, taking the dog to the kennel, or house-sitting during the funeral. And if the person says, ‘How did you know I needed that done?’ I reply, ‘It’s because a man once cleaned my shoes.’”