Just Another Unsung Hero.

Here's a story for those who were disgusted by--or at least were nodding their heads in agreement at--this morning's previous item. We received the following letter (which has been slightly edited) at GovExec world headquarters this weekend. Call it schmaltzy if you want. But I'm publishing it just because we all know there are a million tales like this for every one we hear about some federal employee screwing up.

I want to thank the United States Postal Service for hiring a mail carrier as kind and considerate as "Ann," our mail carrier. We retired from the Washington, D.C. area in June 2004. We moved to Clinton, Mo. (zip code 64735), which is a small city with just over 9,000 people.

Just before Christmas I had emergency quadruple bypass surgery. Ann found out about this because we were to go to Florida for two months and we had placed a forward on our letter mail. Because our trip was canceled, we had to restart delivery to our [home] address. Ann sent me a note wishing me a quick recovery, but this was only the beginning of her kindness for this period. When the weather is bad, she will pull her vehicle up to the curb and deliver our mail to the door so that my wife doesn't have to go out of the house. Yesterday we had two inches of snow and it remained on the ground today. Ann not only brought the mail to the door, but picked up our newspaper and delivered it to the door.

I hope Ann can be recognized as an outstanding person working for the United States Postal Service. I thank the good Lord for her each day.