Its not every day we find normal, decent human beings. They are out there though. We just have to be very choosy with whom we call friends and others will sometimes surprise us. Its not so easy though. Life is full of shady people posing as decent people. There is great distress in our world, and sometimes we forget the effect a decent person can have on any given situation.
Today, on my lunch break, I walked into my local McDonalds. As I walked in I was approached by a man that was down on his luck. We have all had this happen to us. Its very easy to ignore the person and just keep walking. We rationalize it with ourselves in some way or another. Today though, I didn't. The man asked if i had any spare change because he was hungry. I had no spare change on me, but i told the man if he would accompany for my lunch i would buy him what ever meal he wanted to eat. He agreed, and we proceeded through the door. We ordered our food and he joined me at a table. He introduced himself and we talked for a meager 20 minutes while we ate. The talk was nothing of importance, but it was rather enjoyable to have someone to speak with during a brief stint away from work.
As My time was dwindling down i noticed the man took one of the two cheeseburgers he had ordered and neatly wrapped it up and slid it into his pocket. when i noticed this i asked if he wanted me to get him something for later so he didn't feel like he had to save the cheeseburger. The man looked at me and then looked through the window of the restaurant that i had my back too. He told me that the sandwich was not in fact for him that it was for his dog that he had left outside. He said he made sure that on days he ate that his dog also got to eat. He said, " No matter how much or how little i have, he always splits it with me and in return i know i have a friend for life." At that moment i turned to see the dog laying in the grass across the parking lot. He was tied to a tree that gave him shade, quietly awaiting his owners return. My heart broke. I knew i couldn't do much, but i knew the one thing i was going to do was make sure that both of them would not be hungry at least for the night. I asked the man to wait for me there with his dog. and i walked across the street to a Dollar Store. inside i grab a gallon of water, a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and a 10 lb bag of dog food. I carried the items back across the street to the man who by then had tears in his eyes. I was doing my best to hold back the tears, but a few escaped me. i hugged the man and told him to stay safe. I climbed back in my car and realized that my 30 minute lunch had turned to a 1 hour and 15 minute lunch. Sure my boss was not happy when i returned to work, but the way i see things, i wouldn't change it and i would do it again.
My point is it doesn't matter who you are, or what your history is. We can all be a good person. We can all make a difference one way or another. There is more to life then waking up going to work and then going to bed. As a society we are dead set on hating and fighting one another for our differences. When in fact we should celebrate of differences and learn from each other to strengthen us as a whole. Its not always easy to do the right thing. Sometimes it hurts us both physically, mentally and emotionally because we have been trained from such an early age to look at things from a skewed angle. Its my belief that the worst thing we are doing right now isn't to each other, its to our children. The tiny people that are still learning and growing and watching our every move. We are teaching them to hate early, to be selfish, to ignore facts, and to not think for themselves. To me this is the tragedy we should be worried about. This is the cycle that needs to be broke. No it can't happen all at once, but we have to start somewhere.
We as a society have to accept that we are in some form responsible. We have to strive to change it. We have to do better at educating and guiding our children into their adult lives.
Signed
A Concerned Human Being