You Never Know Who Will Need You

His name was Fleming and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy screaming and trying to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse holdings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy who Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No," said the farmer. "I can't accept payment for what I did" and waved off the offer.

At that moment, the farmer's son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal," said the nobleman. "Let me provide him with the level of education my son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he will no doubt grow to be a man we will both be proud of." And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and, in time, he graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name. You guessed it Sir Winston Churchill.