Sorry, I didn't know what thread to put this story in...

My friend fowarded this to me.

This puts a new slant on "going postal" ...

Our dog Abbey died Aug. 23, and the day after Abbey died, my 4 year
old, Meredith, was SO upset. She wanted to write a letter to God so
that
God would recognize Abbey in heaven. She told me what to write and I
did.

Then she put 2 pictures of Abbey in the envelope. We addressed it
to God in Heaven, put two stamps on it (because, as she said, it could
be a long way to heaven). We put our return address on it, and I let
her
put it in the drop box at the post office that afternoon. She was
absolutely sure that letter would get to heaven, and I wasn't about to
disillusion her.

Then, on Labor Day, we took the kids to the museum in Austin, and
when
we came home, there was a package wrapped in gold on our front
porch. It was addressed to Meredith so she took it inside and opened
it.
Inside was a book, "When Your Pet Dies" by Mr. Rogers (Fred Rogers).

On the front cover was the letter we had written to God, in
it's envelope (opened). On the opposite page was one of the pictures of
Abbey taped on the page. On the back page was the other picture of
Abbey,
and this handwritten note on pink paper: "Dear Meredith, I know that
you
will be happy to find out that Abbey arrived safely and soundly in
heaven.
Having the pictures you sent to me was a big help! I recognized Abbey
right away!

You know, Meredith, she isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here
with me(-just like it stays in your heart-) young and running and
playing.
Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in
heaven, and I don't have any pockets to keep things in -- I am sending
your beautiful letter back with the pictures -- so that you will
have this little memory book to keep. One of my angels is taking care
of
this for me. I hope this little book will help. Thank you for your
beautiful
letter.

And thank your mother for sending it. What a wonderful mother you
have. I picked her especially for you. God blesses you every day and
remember, I love you very much. By the way, I am in heaven and
everywhere
there is love.

Signed, God, and one of his special angels (who wrote this
letter after God told HER the words)."

How wonderful is that! I never knew there were angels working
at the post office.

wow, thats was so sweet.

wow! that is such a violation of federal law!

Ya know, postal workers are not supposed to open mail. It is a felony

Letters of that nature, and those addressed to Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc, etc
go to the dead letter office as undeliverable.

If there was a return address on the envelope, it would have been returned marked 'undeliverable'.

Whoever did that was very sweet.

Hey JPMD, I know it's a federal violation, but it was at least a good deed.

Ahhh the old "the end justifies the means" arguement.

It was a violation of Law for the person who opened the letter. And for what purpose? to make a child feel better about a loss? And how did this 'good samaritan' KNOW about the childs loss without first opening the letter?

If that is all that is required to disregard laws, then there would be anarchy, no?




I just love these "gee this will make you feel good about god" stories.

JPMD, I AGREE with you man! It's just a story. There's no arguement. trust me I know the federal laws, as I was a TX-DCS and TABC instructor and had to take courses and learn the about federal laws even though I never utilized them once on the job.

This was suppose to be a fuzzy story, and not intended to get you fired up. We also, are not always angels and you can't tell me you have never done anything wrong.

LOL Of course I have. It just amazes and amuses me the things that people will find 'uplifting'.

Here’s another version to cheer up JMPD.

A 95 year old pensioner writes a letter to God in frustration.

Dear God in Heaven

I am on a very old and on a small pension and have accidentally broken my glasses. As I am confined to a wheelchair my only joy in life is watching a bit of television. I am asking for $100.00 so that I can replace them and spend the remaining time I have watching the shows I love.

Thank you; Mr. Pederson

As it could not be delivered, duo to lack of service in that part of the universe. It was opened by one of the postal sorters, with tears in her eyes she past the note around the sorting table. Each person reading it put in a little change from their own pockets. Near the end of the day they had gathered $94.50 and placed it in the envelope anonymously and returned it to the old gentleman.

Several weeks went by when one of the postal sorters found another letter to God, opening it reluctantly she read it to the other workers.

Dear God in Heaven

Thank you so much for the money, I now have new glasses and can see now after almost two months of shadows. I had to throw in a little of my pension to make up the difference but that ok, I know I asked for$100.00 and you probably sent $100.00 but those thieving buggers at the post office probably got into it.

Thank you; Mr. Pederson

ROFL


Thanks Irish.

Thanks Irish!

looool Irish that was very funny. And NME lucus whoever did that was infact very sweet and kind may God bless him.

In your religion and in mine (catholic ), it is important to help when able to...... "submit your heart, soul and deed"

"Salaam alaykum,
NME_Locus

Very uplifting NME. It's a good example on how God's law supersedes that of mans. We should help and love one another.

Although I agree with you that it's terrible when the law gets violated, we would be nuts to believe it doesn't get violated on some basis, and I am sure that 99% of the violations are for pure personal gain, so, if 1% of the time that the law gets violated it's with the intent to help and do something good, I can say I feel a bit better.

In the case of this story , Joey is 100% correct, this is not jsut a story so let me tell you mine... you know how I know, i was a mail carrier for the post office...You don't take dirt off of the floor there, they have cameras in every cubicle and most offices have a secret room on the top watching they have their own police, they also plant decoys etc....... If you give me your mail you msut be able to trust me your local post office takes this seriously, also the post office doesn't favor christianity we are told to be nuetral on all subjects we are a service and its all inclusive there is no specialness, ... they want you to pay your bills on time ect..you are representing them, to open soemones mail good grief tha tis horrible........ they check out evey reference and send letters to a few they select to ask questions about you..... so cheering up a kid would not matter, the person you are would and as it should be what if everyone did that??? thats what you have to ask....who ever is confessing this on the internet would serve to shush for thier own sake.... The postal workers main job is to secure the mail and let me tell you that is taken serious, there is no its a good thing there, tampering with mail and customers that have nasty dogs are handled very seriously granted on occassion a thief gets through but I can tell you its a matter of time before they are caught...., they send the supervisors out on the route to watch you'' and also you go through a background check just to be considered for the job and they want the most honest sterling people in character and they want a driving record that has no violations 100% follow the driving laws, they will interview thousands and hire only a few , .....They prosecute to the full extent of the law with glee and then some....Its a federal crime....

I understand, but seriously, where was a letter addressed to "God in Heaven" going to go? I can understand if you have a letter addressed to say "The Leader of the Free World," that may end up at the White House, but where exactly is a letter addressed to Heaven going to go? Most likely some pile that will eventually end up being incinerated, so what exactly was the harm?

It doesn't matter Iams. When I was being trained as a Rural carrier, it was drummed into our heads that the mail was sacrosanct. It doesn't matter what the mail is, it is not the postal employees job to decide what is "good mail" from "bad mail".

Letters to Santa, God, what-have-you, are consigned to the dead letter office for proper disposal.

For a postal worker to violate the law by opening a letter NOT addressed to them is a CRIME.

Hell, I was working in the Post Office in my own town, and it was considered improper for me to open my own mail in the P.O. In fact, if I opened a letter addressed to my wife, in the Post Office, it is tampering with the mail.

Joey when i was on probation i had a letter in my bag that was my own letter to be mailed and i forgot about it and they check your stuff and my supervisor made it very clear that you never ever ever leave the office and there is mail in your bag even your own...They don't play, i knew a guy that got taken out in handcuffs for opening a package of cookies and eating one of them, and fired after 15 years of service.....the week you spend in training is focused on a few things one is the don'ts on the mail, and you don't open it as joey said even if its yours... and dogs( there is no such thing as a dog bite that isnt your fault and there is no such thng as a car accident, its neglect on your part.... to this day i defense drive....

Son working for the postal service is serious as a heart attack there is no room for errors....Son it is drilled into you to not talk politics or relgion in the ofice or the street, so to advocate a letter form 'god' is a violation of the rules..Depending on the post master and they are usually mean as snakes and thats what they do is enforce the rules....the one we had if you called in sick he would go to your house and get you and write you up....I never missed a day and i got along with this guy but he didn't put up with anything....I once went to work with a absessed tooth, my face was swollen like a chimpmunk, i had to have three supervisors and the Post master approve giving me time to go to the dentist, they made me work that whole day and brought out extra swings for me to carry...then I was told I could have one day to take care of it..The oral surgeon told me i could of died, i had to have a tube inserted to drain the poision..i was at work the next day....and had to provide a note from the dentist i was telling the truth even though they saw my face..so as you can imagine why joey and I are freaking out, over mail tampering LOL.....

I see your point, but you're kind of stealing her sunshine here. You are factually correct, but rather a Scrooge in this matter . The good samaritan could not have known about the loss, but was doing the same thing that the people do who open all those letters to Santa at Christmas, then answer them. I propose that the mother knew she was taking her chances sending an undeliverable letter. Was the mother doing right by teaching her kid that dogs have souls and God writes letters and uses the postal service? Probably not. But parents are not always perfect and in her imperfect way she was trying to give the child some closure to her grief, which was very real. The mother maybe could have handled it better. But it was a freakin heartwarming story anyway! And gee I think this one was meant to make us feel better about our fellow humans (only the little girl was made to feel better about God). Please go ask somebody to give you a hug.

I love Irish.

Like I said, I understand this, I was an officer in the Army, I know about having procedure drilled into you, but, especially as Americans, we always manage to maintain some independence.

And I understand from what you and Supra are saying it is a very intensely regulated environment, and yes, who ever did this *GASP* violated federal laws, but like I said, I'm sure this law gets violated more often that the Postal Service would like to admit, so given that the violations are occurring, I'm glad this one was done by someone wishing to help and not simply steal or hurt someone.

Son i agree with joey on this it too amazes me the things that people find uplifiting too........Truthfully the way i parent i would of got expert advice..death is a natural part of life and frankly i would want to guide in a way that created fertile ground for the childs emotional health and the ability to deal with loss, I would not feel comfortable leading the kid to beleive in heavens that don't exist and gods that are human constuctions...too many kids end up in therapy as as a result....maybe there is no harm here to the child< but i would look into it.... ......This is just my persepctive, alot of paretns create the situations they find themselves in with the kid..Was this for the parent or the kid..A child learns and is conditoned by the parent..including emotional stuff.....jsut my two cents...

But it could have gone wrong. What if the mother was already going to make a fake response letter and leave it in the mail box and the postman did it too? The girl would have had two letters with possible differences making the girl confused. Or what if the mother was trying to teach the daughter that God doesn't directly respond to people like that? What happens when that girls hamster dies and she doesn't get another letter from God?

Although it was a good jesture I don't think it was a good idea.

JM... common man. It was a smiple warm fuzzy story. Why ruin it by bringing in such a technicaly? *sighs* I'm disappointed in you....

I'm with SC, it was a sweet story about what someone was able to do for a little kid in pain. It's in the past, if it ever actually happened, it's not like anyone was requesting that postal workers do this on a regular basis or anything, it was simply something that happened. We could all play "What if...?" But in this instance it worked out, enjoy the story and leave it at that.

Son, If the what if game was played a whole lot more imagine the harm that wouldn't be done....I agree with Joey and Cade, I see you and SC's side too, but at some level isn't it nice to know that you can trust people with your mail, because there are people that take these jobs for that intent .I think its commendable that their are people as Joey in this world too, Joey you can deliver my mail any day...LOL ..Truthfully I wouldn't want anyone tampering with my mail acting on my or my kids behalf......

It sounds like you're all taking this way too seriously. What does it matter whether people would be prosecuted under the law? Heck, I'm going to give 15-1 odds that this story isn't even real, just a made-up story to make a point. Why not just take it for what it is, and go "awww", like everyone else.

For the record, I'm also giving 15-1 odds that Irish's postal story is true - damn thieving postal workers

Ya know.. honestly.... I could almost bet if I posted the same story but instead of "God in heaven" it was "Goddess in Tir na nOg" or any other pagan deity/after life combination. Completly take the christian aspect out of this story, alot more people who are going off (except for Cade.. but because he's just like that!! ;P) about the law and mail tampering would probaly be going "aww that is so sweet..." or some other combination of aww and admiration.

Now I know... your first reaction will be "No way!!" But sit.. and think. What's really bugging you about this? Is it the christian aspect? Or is it really the fact that someone opened a letter addressed to someone's deity... and did something nice to a little girl who was hurting about her lost pup?

And if you think the postal service is strictly enforced wait till God finds out they had been opening His mail.

Irish

You'd think the gods out there would have set up a way to get their mail now.. sheesh...

Sc the postal aspect is buggin me i worked for them, even knowing this makes me uncomfortable...the federal law is not to be messed with...SC i didn't really read the story to tell you the truth, i jsut happened to see the postal thing and know how it is I worked for them I wanted too .... and my standards for being a trustworthy person are set real high as joeys....I am anal about my example you never kow whos paying attention... if i have given my word i can be trusted...i was coming at it from that perspective....I see your point to and it could apply under many circumstances but not in this one for me.....

I do like that you said god should have a way to get mail by now ***giggles*.....We didn't mean to take the fuzzy and butterflys out of this thread...LOL

fine. I'm a scrooge, and a kill-joy.

whatever

Joey,Not to me your not actually you inspire me to set the bar high on being a good example...i just had my freind read this and he added the origninal poster should not be posting this on a public forum...Thats how serious a federal law is....

And seemingly in a bad mood. Was trying to not to sound harsh about it..

I mean what should I have done? Go all "Stupid christians.. lieing to a little girl, making her think she got a package from their god!" Never mind the whole, reading a letter that goes to the dead letter office. (Ok.. do you *really* know how many letters get opened on a daily basis country wide? Give you a hint, lots... and most are to santa and to "god" ")

Meh.. guess I'm getting tired to of all this disgruntledness here. =( I sorry JM... I still wuv you. Forgive me?

SC He is going through some real serious personal stuff....The letters to santa and god and the tooth fairy do not get opened they go to a special area until they are disposed of...Actually its just silly to send stuff as that it makes the post offices job far harder than it already is, many don't know how demanding the job is unless they have worked there.....Be nice to your mail carrier they work so hard...

meh. what do I know?

If it makes y'all feel warm and fuzzy, then who am I to object.

((HUGS)) Joey..... True, what ever floats ones boat....lol ?group hug ?

Anytime

(((((((HUGS)))))) to everyone.

Fantastic story. Keep em coming.

As for the law violation…What if the person at the post office actually thought(like many people) they are GOD. Then it’s not a law violation. Unless the real GOD came forward to file a complaint, no one (including the government) is going to file charges. Especially with no return address.

Again it was a great story.

Kitties hug... WITH THEIR TEETH!! *gnaws* XD <3

>ruffles the kittens fur between her ears<


luv ya too SC

great story.. if there was more of this (caring) done the world would be a better place...never know who done the good deed...may not have been a postal worker at all..

Good point by the way the story ended it was Mr. Rogers.