- Ringel, why didn’t Sadie’s own guardian angel help her?

- Because people have a free will.

- What does that mean?

- It means that a guardian angel can only help when a person let’s them close.

Rachel fell silent. Ringel was waiting for a new question for a while, but when none came, he continued:

- Every person can at every moment desire what kind of a life they want. When you wish for good things the angels can help, but if you wish bad things, angels cannot help.

- Did Sadie wish for bad things?

- Sadie wanted to hurt you and the birds and Harry. When a person wishes bad things for others, a guardian angel cannot be part of it. That is why Sadie’s guardian angel was unable to help. Sadie was angry when she fell into the water. Hatred, envy and other negative thoughts in a way lock a person into a prison where no one can enter.

- How were you able to help Sadie?

- Because you asked. Your request contained so much good. You asked me to help Sadie even though just a moment before she had thrown stones at you, and before that tried to throw you into the pond. Your will to help was stronger than Sadie’s hate and it opened the cage where Sadie had imprisoned herself. The will to help comes from the heart where the most powerful forces of a human being reside. Hatred can never come from the heart. That is why your power was greater than hers. It was you, Rachel, who really rescued Sadie. If you had not truly wished from your heart that she could be saved, I could not have helped, told Ringel gently.

Rachel felt like crying. She remembered all the times when she had been cross and angry and demanded this and that. They had been bad thoughts.

- Please, do not cry Rachel. It is good for a human to feel cross and angry to learn what feels right and what does not. When you learn to distinguish between good and bad feelings, you can start following your heart.

Rachel wiped her eyes.

- Is good always stronger than bad?, she asked.

- Always. If a person wants good for themselves but bad for others, the wishes contradict each other. But if you wish good for yourself as well as for others, it doubles the power of good.

- Then why does one’s heart ache?

- When the heart aches, something has weakened the good force in the heart. For example, if you trust someone and that person betrays your trust, you feel pain in your heart. Sometimes it takes a long time before you can start trusting again. Only when you are able to forgive can you heart start healing, and in time the pain goes away, explained Ringel.

Rachel was still silent. Ringel continued.

- Or if someone close to you dies. That is also sad even if you know that nothing ever ceases to exist. Death touches your goodness. There will be a hole in your heart in that person’s place and it also hurts in the beginning.

Rachel thought hard before she finally asked:

- Does the good feeling come from the heart?

- A genuine good feeling always comes from the heart, confirmed Ringel.

- A genuine good feeling always comes from the heart, repeated Rachel, and made an effort to bring the whole conversation into her mind to always remember it.