Courage (Unknown)

It was a few weeks before Christmas 1917. The beautiful snowy landscapes of Europe were blackened by war.
The trenches on one side held the Germans and on the other side the trenches were filled with Americans. It was World War I. The exchange of gunshots was intense. Separating them was a very narrow strip of no-man's-land. A young German soldier attempting to cross that no-man's-land had been shot and become entangled in the barbed wire. He cried out in anguish, then in pain he continued to whimper. Between the shells all the Americans in that sector could hear his scream. When one American soldier could stand it no longer, he crawled out of the American trenches and on his stomach crawled to that German soldier. When the Americans realized what he was doing they stopped firing, but the Germans continued. Then a German officer realized what the young American was doing and he ordered his men to cease firing.
Now there was a weird silence across the no-man's-land. On his stomach, the American made his way to that German soldier and disentangled him. He stood up with the German in his arms, walked straight to the German trenches and placed him in the waiting arms of his comrades. Having done so, he turned and started back to the Americans trenches. Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder that spun him around. There stood a German officer who had won the Iron Cross, the highest German honor for bravery. He jerked it from his own uniform and placed it on the American, who walked back to the American trenches. When he was safely in the trenches, they resume the insanity of war...

Moral of the story:
Sometimes one needs not care how others judge him. What counts is when one grasps the importance of a moment, responds to it with one's true being whole-heartedly. Compassion has no boundary between enemy and friend. It is just there; exists in every whole true being.
Moral of the story:
"Be generous and share your food with the poor. You will be blessed for it." (Proverbs: 22-9)