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On my way to the bus stop after work one afternoon about a
year ago, I was lost in my thoughts of the tasks I had
waiting for me at home. Christmas was upon us and I hadn??™t
even begun Christmas shopping yet.
A voice snapped me back to the present.
"Excuse me, Sir. Excuse me"
A man was trying to get my attention.
Apparently in his late 40's, he was dressed in business
attire that he'd obviously been wearing for awhile. His
suit was rumpled and in need of dry cleaning. His overall
appearance was disheveled, though he didn't appear to be a
homeless man of the streets.
"Yes???? I asked.
"I'm sorry to bother you but I wonder
if you could help me."
He told of being on his way home from
somewhere on the East coast. He had gotten to Minneapolis
and ran into some rather unfortunate luck. His luggage had
been lost and he had somehow been relieved of his wallet.
"I'm trying to get back home in time
for Christmas", he said. I have $50.00, but a bus ticket
costs $70.00. I'm stranded in Minneapolis and I've never
been here before. Now I??™m lost.???
He began to tremble and looked as
though he may have been suffering from an anxiety attack of
some sort. He explained that he had asked several people to
help, but all refused or ignored him. I tried to calm him
and said I'd see what I could do to help. With this, he
seemed to relax a little, indicating that perhaps he had
found a friend in a strange city.
He went on to say that he needed to
borrow $20 in order to buy a bus ticket to get home. He
explained that he had a job and a family. He seemed to be
trying hard to prove that he wasn't a "bum", and obviously
feared that people would view him as a beggar.
"If you will give me your name and
address, I will return the money to you as soon as I get
home". He produced $50.00 from a pocket in another attempt
to demonstrate that he wasn't what people would think him to
be. "See, I've got some money. I just need another
$20.00. Can you help me? Please?"
I looked into my walled and discovered
that I had $27.00. I needed $2.00 for bus fare, and gave
him the other $25.00. I figured he'd need something to eat
that day and silently hoped he'd find another Samaritan to
help him with another meal or two. He had hundreds of miles
to travel and it would take a couple of days by bus. He
asked again for my name and address, but I declined. I told
him to try to help someone else someday, if the opportunity
should arise. He thanked me profusely and walked off in the
direction of the bus station.
When I related the story to some of my
friends, they unanimously suggested that I had lost my
mind. "As soon as he was out of sight, he went to a bar",
they said. "He played you for a sucker".
"Maybe," I said, "But I don't think
so. Even if you're right, I'd like to think that the
experience will have a positive effect on him. Jesus said
'whatever you do for the least of them, you also do for me',
so even if you're right, it's still ok with me." And with
that, I put the event out of my mind.
Recently, I had occasion to travel to
the Seattle area. I was in the airport and to my dismay,
discovered that my connecting flight had been cancelled.
There was not another scheduled flight until the next
morning. I would have to find a place to spend the night
and I knew hotels would be filled due to a convention in the
area. I called my wife to let her know I had arrived in
Seattle and was complaining to her about my dilemma. After
hanging up, I think I was grumbling to myself when I heard a
voice nearby. It was a man I had met at a cocktail party
following a business meeting the previous evening.
"I couldn't help but overhear what
happened", he said. "I live here in Seattle. Why don't you
have dinner with my family and me? We love to have guests.
I'll just call my wife and let her know. You can use our
phone to find a room somewhere"
Feeling that I didn't have many other
options, I took him up on his offer and walked with him to
his car. We arrived at his home after a fairly short drive,
during which we talked about our families and our jobs.
Over dinner, I thanked them for their kindness, which is
quite rare today. Inviting a total stranger to their home
for dinner is indeed, unusual and I wanted them to know how
much they were appreciated.
The man's wife then began to tell a
story of how her brother had been stranded in Minneapolis
about a year earlier. Her brother had told her of the Good
Samaritan he had encountered and how this stranger helped
him to get home. He was so touched by the experience, she
said, that he felt compelled to return the favor to others,
whenever he could. She said she had been moved by his
story, and that their family too, had decided to follow the
example. Little did I know that I would be the benefactor
of my own admonishment to "help someone else someday".
I guess you just never know where or
how far the ripples we make will go.
You too can "Make a Ripple ??“ Make a
Difference"
(c) 2003 Don Carroll
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May you be blessed today.
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher |
