By David Heiller

Itís funny how a good thing can come from bad things.

The Caledonia wrestling team learned that at Dover-Eyota (D-E) High School on January 25. During the wrestling meet, someone broke into the locker room and stole items from nine of the kids.

They lost cash, gift cards, hunting licenses, library cards, school IDs, that kind of thing, all valued at about $500.

Thatís when the good things happened. First of all was the reaction that Caledonia coaches and wrestlers had. They didnít get mad or bad-mouth Dover-Eyota. They took it well. They behaved like gentlemen, according to D-E principal Don Johnson.

Then another good thing happened. D-E sent a check to Caledonia High School for $507 to reimburse the students. The money came from the schoolís general fund, because insurance wouldnít cover it.

D-E did it for a simple reason, Johnson told me. ìIt just seemed like the right thing to do.î

Caledonia wrestling coach Jay Tolleson sent D-E a thank you letter signed by all 14 wrestlers. ìIt always amazes me that an individual(s) actions can change someoneís perception about a place,î Tolleson wrote. ìIn the same note, those perceptions can be changed back with an extreme act of kindness.î So that was another good thing, because learning to give a proper thank you is worth as much as anything.

But it wasnít done yet. A teacher in the Winona area heard about the theft, so she decided to do a ìPay It Forwardî act of kindness. That term is based on a movie of the same name, in which the main character passes on ñ or pays forward ñ acts of kindness.

The teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought each of the theft victims a $50 gift card for Marshall Fields department store. She included a letter about Pay It Forward, in which you respond by doing your own act of kindness to three other people. ìThatís how the chain effect goes to three different places,î the teacher told me. ìThe minute you close yourself off to it, it dies.î

She said the movie had a profound effect on her. She is using it as a unit in her high school classroom. Her students are keeping track of their own Pay It Forward actions.

An act of kindness can renew your faith in people especially in our fearful society of today, the teacher said.ìItís still OK to trust people.î

ìAnd the feeling you get, itís such a great joy to help someone in need,î she added.

Generosity, forgiveness, caring, those are great things, and they all seemed a big part of this entire incident.

I tip my hat to the kids and their coaches, to Dover-Eyota, and to that nameless teacher. A good deed goes a long way.

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