Normally, the people we feature in this column are average, everyday Canadians, people whose lives lived and stories told are an inspiration to us all. Today however, I want to acknowledge a celebrity who would also quality as a Neighbourhood Hero as well as an unknown Neighbourhood Hero.

First the Celebrity:

It was 7:33 on a Tuesday evening in April 1975. I had just finished my shift as a CBC Announcer and walked into an empty studio to make a phone call.

To my surprise, I opened the door and found Glen Gould, Canada's world famous concert pianist and radio documentary producer, sitting alone in the dark.

"Sorry to bother you," I said as I turned to leave but he insisted I make my call.

Then, as I hung up and headed toward the door once again, he asked me a question and the next thing I knew, we had been talking for more than two hours. Finally I said goodbye, opened the door, and left.

A few minutes later as I walked down the street toward my apartment, I felt a million-dollar smile light up my face.

"Wow. What an incredible conversation" I thought and then suddenly realized that I had done most of the talking. For two hours he asked questions and I talked. He listened and I talked some more.

Was that the secret of his genius, I wondered? Was that how he was able to reflect so many of life's essential truths in his creative efforts?

Glen Gould was interested in everything and everyone that came into his life, even me. He was curious, he asked questions, and most important of all, he listened.

I wish I could say that meeting was a transformational experience for me ... but I can't. However I can say that I frequently recall that evening and for the next while ask better questions and listen with more intensity.

And when I do that, I invariably see a "million dollar smile" on the face of my companion ... and I feel pretty good too.

It's a gift anyone of us can give whenever we choose.

Now the Anonymous Neighbourhood Hero:

I was in the middle of my radio show back in the early 80's. The topic was "How To Succeed In Marriage" and I had just picked up line two on the studio phone.

Her story was as simple as it was powerful. "I was married for more than fifty absolutely wonderful years," she said, "and I can tell you why those years were so wonderful.

"Every night before I came into the bedroom, my husband would lie on my side of the bed and then, as I came in, he would move over and give me the warm spot.

When I first heard that story, I found my own twist on doing one small, regular thing for someone you love.

I was a single parent at the time, raising a teenage daughter, a daughter who wasn't always in a good mood when she woke up.

One morning as the coffee finished perking, I heard her moving about up stairs and took her a cup of coffee, double cream, double sugar. A few days later, she commented on how that had really made her day.

So, whenever I could after that, I would slip into her room before she woke up and leave a thermos of fresh coffee, double cream, double sugar, beside her bed.

She hardly ever came down stairs in a bad mood on the mornings I did that.

Can you think of one small thing you could do on a regular basis for someone you love?