Saturday, January 5, 2008

An almost-missed opportunity

I forgot to mention a bit of philanthropy this morning, so I'm posting it here to cheer myself up. I had to leave early to get to Hoxworth because I was out of gas and needed to stop on the way.

While I was pumping gas, an Indian man came up to me and asked me for help-- I was a little wary at first because I'm paranoid about being approached by people I don't know, but he continued to tell me in broken English that he needed to find Eastgate mall. I tried to talk him through the directions as visually as I could, but he left still looking confused.

It was really only then that I realized I was being horrible-- I mean, this is the YEAR of PHILANTHROPY and I'm shooing away a man literally asking me for help? So I ran after him and asked if he'd like to follow me. The mall wasn't on my way, but I'd left early to get gas so I didn't need to rush to get to Hoxworth, and I could afford to just take some backroads way that I'm familiar with.

The man broke into a smile and jumped into his van with his family. I drove him right up to the parking lot of the mall and he waved enthusiastically as I left.

To really live this year to its fullest, I'm going to need to break some bad habits I have.

2 comments:

Lewis said...

I'm catching up on old posts, but just wanted to say this definitely brought a smile to my face. I can just imagine how good it must have felt.

Unknown said...

@Lewis-- Glad you enjoyed that... I certainly did. That's the kind of thing I need to be less hesitant about doing this year...