An old man came to Zack’s bakery begging for bread every day, but instead of saying “thank you,” he responded with the same cryptic phrase. Zack never understood what it truly meant until he saw his daughter standing on the store threshold.
Zack had been running a bakery in Albuquerque, New Mexico for several years. He opened it the same year his wife Julie gave birth to their daughter, Clara. The store was doing well, but the past few months had been tough for his family for reasons he couldn’t even talk about anymore.
Zack kept the bakery running despite everything going on at home. It offered him an escape, and he loved being a baker. One night, a beggar came to his shop asking for some food. Zack gave him day-old bread, and instead of simply thanking him, the man said something interesting.
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“The evil you do stays with you. The good you do returns to you,” said the homeless man before going on his way. A simple “thank you” would’ve been more than enough, Zack thought. He shrugged and continued working.
Every night after that, the man would return to check if there was anything Zack could spare. Zack always had something for him, and he would respond with, “The evil you do stays with you. The good you do returns to you.”
After a month of this, Zack decided to ask him why he kept repeating these lines. The homeless man smiled but didn’t reply. He just walked away like he did every night.
When Zack told Julie about the puzzling man, she told him, “Well, honey. Some people are just like that. Who knows what went on in his life.”
“I know. But it’s just so strange. It’s easier to just say ‘thank you.’ Do you think there’s a deeper meaning to it?” Zack insisted.
“It sounds like he’s wishing you good karma for being so generous to him. You know… some people think that ‘thank you’ is enough for every scenario. But maybe it’s not for him,” his wife said as she dried her hands after washing the dishes.
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“‘The evil you do stays with you. The good you do returns to you.’ I mean… it’s a strange phrase. It’s not popular. But you’re probably right,” Zack muttered. He was glad to be having this conversation with Julie.
She had not been the most talkative person in the last...
