Tax day — April 15 — was looming when an elderly woman showed up at my desk at the IRS. She said she required a thick stack of tax forms. “Why so many?” I asked.

“My son is stationed overseas,” she said. “He asked me to pick up forms for the soldiers on the base.”

“You shouldn’t have to do this,” I told her. “It’s the base commander’s job to make sure that his troops have access to the forms they need.”

“I know,” said the woman. “I’m the base commander’s mother.”
— Donna Bell