A Missionary To Japan Told A Story Of When He Was ...

A missionary to Japan told a story of when he was riding a train one late night across town. Everyone was being fairly dignified, but then a drunk man came on board. His face was red and he was looking for a fight. He was catcalling women and trying to provoke men to fight him. Nobody responded except for an old man, who began to laugh.

“What’s so funny, old man?” the drunk man responded. The old man shook his head and said, “Oh, nothing. You see, I remember a time when I was about as drunk as you, I went home to my garden, tripped and fell into one of my bushes where I spent the night. It was very funny.”

He continued then, “Tell me, why did you get drunk tonight? The night that I did that, my wife had died in the hospital.” Soon, the drunk man and the older gentleman were having a conversation which led the drunk man to sobbing on the old man’s shoulder.

The two of them got up and left the train together. It was only then that one of the passengers leaned over to the missionary and said, “You know, I didn’t recognize him before, but that was one of the greatest Aikido fighters in our country. He could have probably knocked him out very easily.” The missionary responded, a little confused, “Well of course, the old man probably couldn’t take a hit very well.” The passenger responded, “no, I am talking about the old man.”