Pay It Forward

Yesterday M and I went to take a tour of the birthing centre at St Joe's, and we got there about 30 minutes before the tour started. On the way to the parking lot we passed and elderly gentleman suffling across the parking lot on the driverside of the car. When we pulled into the parking spot I asked M if she had seen him shuffling. She said she had and how unstable he looked. I asked her if I should get out and see if he needs a hand. We decided that he looked like he knew where he was going. He had made his way on to the sidewalk next to the building and he stoped at one of the waist high pathway lights to take a breather. No more than a minute later as he was about to leave our field of view he fell over. I launced out of the car leaving the door open. I shouted out to the man and asked if he was alright, and in a some what unsure voice he replied "no not really". By then M had gotten to we where and I was about to help him up and realized he couldn't really support his own wieght. So I had M wait with him as I ran inside the birthing centre to get a wheel chair. When I came out M had helped him to sit up, so I brought the wheel chair over to him and picked him up and placed him in. We asked where he was headed and he said he was looking for his car. I asked where he had left it and he told me that he had just had his hearing checked. We took him inside so we could have the receptionist help us find out which biulding he had come from. The man told us his doctors name and the recptionist was able to tell us which bilding he had come from. So M and I wheeled him over to his car which was clear on the other side of a large building. On the way we talked with him and with his discription of his car we where able to locate it. I pulled the wheel chair up to the drivers side and helped him out of the chair. When he reached to put the keys in the door lock he missed three times, he took a moment and started to talk to us about his late wife, children and how he was a Ancient History teacher a Western for 23 years. He was a very sweet elderly gentleman, I felt bad that he had about a 25 min drive home, because he could barely support his own wieght. He said that he was better and we talked for a few more minutes and we went on our seporite ways. Afterwards I was talking with M about what we had done and I said that I felt really happy that we could help a complete stranger like that. It gave me a good feeling.

Later that evening we went over to our friend Diego and his wife's place to help them push thier van five blocks, from the shop it was at to thier house. Diego, his wife and myself pushed as M steered. The three of us pushed it about two blocks until someone came up to us and asked if he could help, he said he was going in our direction and it was no problem to help. So here's a complete stranger the three of us and M steering pushing the van across a main drag and to the bottom part of Diego's street. So the man said goodbye and wen on his way. Then it was just the three of us again until we got on to Diego's street when three guys came out of nowhere and insisted on helping. We got about 50 yards when one of the guys said he would get something to help us. He came back with two more people to help and made light work of pushing the van. It was really nice of those people to stop what they where doing and come and help us. People we had never met before helping out of the kindness of thier own hearts.

Pay it forward, pass the karma, simple and easy ways to make the world a little better, as you can see it dosen't take much. When it all boils down it only takes one person to be kind to make it all a little better. I think that His Holiness the Dalai Lama puts it quite nicely.

"Be kind whenever possible…It is always possible."