Bob CollinsIt’s never too late to start, of course, but there are nowhere near enough people on the earth whose story makes you wish you were a better person.
John Carlson, 82, who died this week in the explosion at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, was clearly one.
You can change the world with a Dilly Bar, we’ve learned in the various news stories since the explosion a couple of days ago.
That’s what he’d do.
“He would hand out Dilly Bars to students after school,” Grace Kirkpatrick, a student, told MPR News. “He’d always want to start up a conversation with you. He was super-helpful and would go out of his way to make your life a little bit easier.”
In an interview last year, Carlson, who went to work early the day he died, said he wanted to teach kids that an education is important, but so is leading a good life.
“Keep going. Do a good job. Get good grades. Have a Dilly bar,” he said.
We refer to these — incorrectly — as small acts of kindness.
This was John Carlson's DQ at 44th and Lake. Manager said he'd come in several times a week to stock up on Dilly Bars for kids @WCCO pic.twitter.com/kAqyIeCMwz
— Kate Raddatz (@RaddReport) August 3, 2017
“If I was having a bad day and he saw me, he’d give me a Dilly Bar,” Tory Kronschabel tells the Pioneer Press. “It doesn’t matter how cold it is, every kid feels better with ice cream.”
She’s set up a GoFundMe page to assist Carlson’s family and that of Ruth Berg, who was also killed in the blast.
At a prayer service on Wednesday evening, a graduate of the school handed out Dilly Bars.
These are not good times in the world. The crass, the greedy, and the mean have appeared to hijack the country’s goodness.
These are the times for a Dilly Bar and a recognition that we can be better people.
Update: Minnehaha Academy is holding a memorial service for Carlson on Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Lower and Middle School chapel. “His family will receive visitors prior to the service, from 4-6 pm. 4200 West River Parkway, Minneapolis,” the school wrote on Facebook.
