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2 years ago
Life will teach you amazing lessons if you pay attention.
Last week as I sat on the train I watched a very young couple with two children get on with a stroller. The woman had an infant in her lap and I smiled at her and the baby and told her she had a beautiful family. She really did. Her husband was sweet and attentive and her two children were well behaved and obviously happy. Coming from a dysfunctional family, it was nice to see that there are still people out there that can create a happy one.
A few days later, I went out with some friends for a tweetup and made some awesome new friends! (no matter what you non-twitter people say, I love my twitter-folk!) It ended up being a VERY late night so a few of us went out for breakfast. -Mexican food at 4am has got to be on my list of favorite things.
On our way to the food joint, there was a man who approached us asking for money. He was obviously poor looking, in his dirty coat and unwashed hair. None of us had any cash so we walked away…to go get food.
About an hour later we are still in the restaurant talking and getting ready to leave when the man from earlier walks in. He followed us to the place and then proceeds to ask us for money again. I was tired and irritated and I have no idea what I said but knowing me, I’m sure it was blunt and to the point. I was not giving him anything. When he walked out one of my friends at the table made a comment about how sad it was that people don’t take the time to take care of other people. I believe he mentioned Chicago specifically. A part of me was offended because I have always felt that I spend so much of my time going out of my way to help others. But I also feel that some people are very capable of helping themselves and that particular man that walked out, looked perfectly sane and capable. My judgment of him was that he was taking advantage of the fact that people will give him money if he asks. Therefore, I make excuses based on my judgments of others so I don’t feel guilty for not helping them.
Let’s fast forward to two days later. (today)
Walking down the street in the same neighborhood I approach a corner and see the same young couple with their stroller that I had seen on the train earlier last week. I also see a man with a tin of cookies offering a cookie to their children. The very same man that I refused to help two nights ago. The very same man that I judged as someone who was a taker….was actually a giver.
Life taught me an amazing lesson today. And it threw that lesson in my face! Sometimes these coincidences happen…I happen to see the same couple on the street and I happen to see the poor man giving cookies to their children. And if those two things weren’t enough to smack me in the face, there was an additional coincidence happening at the same exact moment. As I was walking, I was tweeting on my phone. I was tweeting messages to the very same friend that brought up the fact of how sad it is that we don’t go out of our way to help others.
Sometimes these things happen and we blow it off as a coincidence. There is no such thing as a coincidence. Life is happening and it’s teaching you things. I learned today that no matter how good I am to others, I can always be better. Judging someone on the way that they look is so wrong in so many ways and I never paid attention to the fact that I was guilty of doing that. Thank you to my friend Le, for speaking up. Thank you to the young couple for showing me that happy families exist. Thank you to the poor man for putting me in my place and showing me that judging you was not fair. And thank you to life for showing me that I was wrong in so many ways.
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