Sometimes the injuries I have received have occured in such strange ways that at first I didn't understand how it could've possibly happened! And then when I figured it out the explanation was reasonable and even understandable. One place I worked the freezer door got so gummed up that it wouldn't shut. I propped it open with a chair, put a sign on the chair that read "DOOR JAM BEING CLEANED. DO NOT CLOSE DOOR!" I was down on my knees really attacking the problem, when one of the cooks came along, Fred. He grabbed the chair, threw it aside, and said "What in the hell is THIS doing here?" and swung the door.
I never saw it coming and it got my hand good! I didn't break anything but it swelled up terribly, and they had to immobilize it to keep more damage from being done. A heavy set girl that was working on dishes at the time had to help me on stock for quite a while until the hand healed up.
Fred was extremely apologetic, but I couldn't understand why he'd done it, until one day I saw him at the spice rack. He had two of the spices and was looking at them quite confused. They strongly resembled each other, and the bottles were identical. When he was sure no one was looking he smelled them to get the right one. It suddenly dawned on me why Fred had shut the door; he couldn't read! He didn't understand what the warning sign meant! I went over to him and inquired if it was so. He looked at me very embarrassed but muttered "Yeah, I had to leave school and go to work, when my father died. Never did learn!"
"Listen," I told him, "I could barely read myself, until a few years ago. This wonderful lady that worked for a group called Literacy Volunteers worked with me for months. She brought my reading skills way up! Let me give you their number."
"It's too late for me!" Fred muttered.
"Nonsense!" I told him. "If I could do it you can do it!"
It took a couple of more efforts, but I finally persuaded him. And in the next few months Fred proudly showed me again and again, the progress he was making. In no time he was writing down stuff for me. The only bad part was that it improved his circumstances so much that it enabled him to get a much better job, and he left where I was working! Sometimes some unexpected good comes out of things, and when you understand all the reasons you can't really be mad at someone. Fred wasn't really a bad guy, he just had a problem, as sometimes we all do!
The best part was Fred came in one day all smiles and said "Gerald I read a book to my son last night, and he liked it! He really liked it!" Sometimes there are some good moments, sometimes!

Speaker Linda Polley from the video "God The Mother Says "Vacation Utah!"