help a stranger

A few years ago, when I was working as a security guard, I let an elderly gentleman who had missed his bus, and had no way home until the morning, stay at my apartment. He shared stories of the second World War with me, and we drank Mountain Dew, before he dowsed off sitting in a chair.

I’ll always remember that, and him. Inviting a stranger into your home can really be an almost mystical experience. I’d welcome another opportunity like that one.

Yesterday I encountered a mid twenties guy in Downtown looking for a bank branch that actually doesn’t operate in my state… His story had huge holes in it, but he had dischatge papers from jail and needed help getting money for the bus home…

I spent almost 8 hours with him between WesternUnion and making it to the GreyHound. He claims to be Peurto Rican, but it really doesn’t matter. He needed someone to help, and his older “brother” called my phone today to check up. Turns out Little Bro’ is slightly Loco(maybe mildly autistic), and everyone is really thankful he found good help.

These things can turn out either way, but I’m glad it was the right choice.

I hate that I am so reluctant to do this sometimes.

Once I was driving home and I saw an older heavyset woman trying to push a pick up truck down the street. She was on an overpass when her truck broke down. I couldn’t believe that this woman was actually pushing this truck and I felt really bad for her. So I pulled over to help her out. As soon as I pulled over two men in another pick up pulled behind her and offered to push her truck to the next street where she could park it. I offered to let her use my cell phone. One of the guys was a mechanic and told her what the problem was. She was sweating and out of breath so I offered her a ride home. She was really appreciative and when I got to her home she asked me how much did she owe me. I wouldn’t have imagined of ever charging her and I told her that it was ok I just wanted to make sure she got home safely. She just kept thanking me and told me that if I ever needed anything I could knock on her door. I felt really good after that experience. I just felt like it was the right thing to do and if I would not have stopped I could have never forgiven myself.

I was in town with some friends at lunch time, and we saw this old lady who had fallen down. Her bags were all scattered around her, and she was trying to get up but she obviously couldn’t, so I pointed her out to my friends and started jogging towards her to help her.
She looked absolutely terrified to see a bunch of teenagers running towards her (we were in school uniform, and our school hasn’t exactly got the best reputation) she obviously thought we were going to beat her up and snatch her bags.
we got to her and took her hands trying to help her up (it took a few of us as she was quite heavy) and we picked up all her bags for her and handed them over. She seemed quite shocked and she was crying, so we helped her over to the nearest shop and the man inside looked after her from there.

It felt really good to help someone like that, but when we got back to school late, none of the teachers believed us. They thought it was just another excuse.

I let someone in front of me at the supermarket. He had two bags of ice.

I let 2 people in front of me today during rush hour on the way home =). And got cut off by one person =(.

I was driving home one day from work and i came across an old man who fell down. I saw him riding his bike up the hill slowly, but he was struggling. Out of no where he just fell to his side. He tried to get back up, but would collapse again. Contemplating on what to do, i made a U-Turn at the nearest light to see if anyone would help him. There was no car that thought twice about slowing down or stopping. I knew what i had to do. As i drove by again, i stopped and parked near the side of the road. I got out of my car, ran straight to the old man to help him up.

I knew that he wasnt going to be able to ride his bike due to his struggle to stand, so i offer him a ride to his house. Not knowing anything at all about this old man. Questions ran through my head, “Does he have a gun? Is he a thief? Murderer?” etc. But none of that mattered to me at that moment. I stuff his back in my car, and he sat up front with me. As i drove, he told me how he just got out of a divorce, and hes just struggling with his heart ache. I couldnt blame him, i was going through the same thing. Luckily his brother’s house was pretty close by.

I dropped him off at his brother’s house. His brother came out of the house helping me get the bike out of the car. As i was walking back to the car, the old man stopped me to thank me. He reached into his wallet, grabbing the money he had left, telling to me to take it. He told me, “Thank you so much for your help, no one would have stopped to help me. Please take this as a thank you.” It wasnt just a few bucks of chump change, what he was thanking me with was HUNDREDS. I know anyone else would have took the money, no doubt about it. But what i told him was, “I’m sorry, i cant accept this. I didnt help you for money. I helped you cause it was the right thing to do.” The next thing he told me changed my life that day. He told me, “Thank you so much. You’re not like any other young man i know. You have a heart of gold.”

Just hearing those words brought these emotions i’ve never felt before. It was overwhelming (no i didnt cry). My outlook of life changed that day. I got over my ex, and knew what i wanted to do. I wanted to help anyone in need. So i say, if you see anyone that needs help, dont stop yourself from doing so. It might change your life.

A man in a wheelchair asked me about one place. We were there already. I opened him the door, but he still couldn’t enter. So I helped him to push his chair.
It’s not much, but I felt kinda good.

It was very simple, but I helped a man crossed a 4-stop corner. That might sound silly but I had never done that before. I’ll try and continue to do little things for strangers. You never know they might mean a lot for them.