Ye who now do bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing. John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

Putting a smile on someones face is ridiculously easy. Still, the one who benefits most from such simple interchanges in many cases is the one who initially prompted the smile.

One example in my life came last weekend while sitting in a relatively crowded coffee-dominated setting at a large church in Spokane.

Although my path previously had crossed on one prior occasion with Dean, this was my first opportunity to talk with him at any length.

Deans body visibly shakes at all times, generating a visible aura where many choose to avoid any contact with him, especially keeping him away from their children.

Dean looks the part of a homeless man being punished for past sins.

During our conversation, a woman I know to be proud of her ongoing recovery from alcoholism walked up and asked Dean, How long have you been sober?

Deans response was 20 years.

After hearing Deans answer to that question I surmised the man was suffering from a major physical ailment of some kind.

A mutual friend later told me Dean didnt know why his body shook, but was convinced he didnt wish to turn to Western medicine for a cure.

We ended up talking at length on many topics and I learned Dean is both intelligent and diverse in his interests. In addition to the topic of God, a natural conversation piece since both our encounters were in a church, we spoke at length about sports.

The springboard to that element of the conversation was the Texas Longhorns T-shirt he was wearing and the fact Id watched those same Longhorns roll up about 70 points in a televised pounding of Ol Miss the day before.

What was special about our time together was twofold.

Dean, possibly lonely because of his handicap, smiled frequently when addressed as an equal on topics of mutual interest. And I, too, smiled because Id made a new friend.

Its easy to have warm conversations with established friends, but positively impacting the lives of those who are, or appear to be downtrodden takes a physical act of free will.

I dont remember the impetus for my action, but while attending a church in Seattle years previously I wrote an article about an individual who, from outward appearances, was a body in a wheelchair and nothing more.

He, too, taught me much.

As of today, I dont remember the name of his particular malady, but he tilted in his chair and seemed lifeless.

Such could not have been further from the truth.

He had an amazing mind, was extremely popular at the high school he attended, and had the innate ability to communicate by typing with his feet.

And it was a far cry from gibberish that rolled forth from his toes.

Even now I remember a late friend, known by many in Wallowa County, named Lon Childers.

Paralyzed from the neck down following an auto accident at age 21, Lon lived decades longer than physicians had thought and became a talented mouth artist, writer of e-mails, and friend to many.

I remember sleeping on his floor during visits to his home in Nampa, Idaho, and being shocked back into wakefulness by his giant Bose speakers whenever it was time for his caretaker to turn his crippled body. Such basic acts of physical maintenance helped prolong his years.

Lon was a good friend and we visited relatively often, and yet I always felt I benefited from those visits more than Lon.

Jabberwock II columnist Rocky Wilson is a reporter for the Chieftain.