IF I TAGGED YOU; don't feel like you are required to read this. I tagged you because I genuinely thought you would have some interest in this video AND story. Don't feel obligated, really. However I promise it's worth your time as I personally wrote this, and I appreciate those who do read it immensely.

Such a basic small thing; so similar to the story of Mrs. Pethel I recently shared. I have another story as well, that this reminded me of. Again, a long, but worthwhile read.

I was a shift manager at arby's at this time, it was say may. I was currently homeless, trying to work my way through college with no loans, and no help. It didn't work out but that's besides the point.

On this particular day, I and another manager, we'll call him Moses for sake of his privacy. Moses was a douche, he often showed up drunk, and I almost always took up his slack. This is what I was doing this warm may evening. I was running the front registers and assisting put together all the orders.... I forget exactly what he was doing, possibly drive through stuff. Well, I had to use the restroom, so I gave him a heads up, waited for a slow moment, and then did my thing.

When I came back, I saw a black woman standing in the lobby, drunkenly arguing with Moses. Moses was threatening to call the police for her loitering. So I asked her why she was waiting in the lobby; she replied that she was hungry and didn't have any money, maybe I could give her a few dollars. Being a bit wiser as a homeless person myself, I knew the trap here. I refused to give her cash, but as I was a manager, I could eat one free meal a day, which although I wasn't going to eat otherwise that evening, I split my dinner with her. She waited patiently for me to get off, and I drove her home. I even let her stop and buy alcohol...... was that helping her? no. But It did give her a respect and trust for me, that I recognized and accepted her regardless of her flaws? Yes it did.

She lived in a burned out house that used to be her and her husbands home. she confided on me after buying a mystery brown bag, that she was trying to recover from addiction. I replied that I was absolutely taking her straight to her house then, and meeting her husband. And I did. I sat in that burned out dark house with them and shared a meager meal. Me in my work uniform (a button up shirt with nice slacks), her in her way to large coat and him in rags. His very elderly mother was a preacher I found out, so I shared with him my experiences, and my mothers experiences with drugs, and how much God loved us, to give us a second chance despite our selfishness.

They both saw it as a sign from God for some reason..... I guess they were praying about it or something. In any case, it was the right thing I could do, and all that I could do. So I went on my way, having gotten her home safe, and given them both a motivation to continue progressing and improving themselves.

Life went on, as in this video, I kept doing my thing; I honestly totally forgot that I had helped them, except for the brief moment that I passed by the road they lived on, where I'd think back on the moment, and wonder how they were. At this particular moment in my life, my mother and father both would have killed me if they had known I had done this, regardless of how right it was.

About a year later, the fall before I left arbys completely and joined the navy. I was working just before lunch on a sunday..... normally a really slow day but at least I never had to deal with moses, it was just me and some crew members.

A couple walked in, dressed plainly, but in respectable clothes. They each ordered a full meal, and then sat down and ate. Obvious to you, this was the same couple I had helped..... but I'll tell you, I didn't recognize them, at ALL. like period. They were totally different people. After they ate I wished them a good day, the gentleman came up to me. What he said struck me pretty deeply, just as the guy in the video was struck to see the little girl in school. He thanked me, he told me that they had cleaned up, and gotten better. That I had given them that kindness and motivation, to keep going. An important survival concept, and I think, the most important.... putting one foot in front of the other, no matter how hard it is. I let them know in their hardest time, that they weren't alone, and that they could do it. And they did. This still brings me to tears, because I told them the same things that had gotten me rejected from a lot of major church organizations, and was the cause of my homelessness in many ways..... I didn't often share, and I still don't (you're getting a treat friends), because I find 99% no one listens, and my wisdom is lost among the fast cars, hard liquor, and sexy celebrities. The silence is depressing. So I continue simply doing, and speaking when necessary as the saying goes. sexy little black dresses

It was an amazing, beautiful thing to witness, and I thanked God for that opportunity to help them then, that I could. It is the reason that I put my own personal boundaries aside to help others..... because often it is exactly what that person needs, that one person to help them keep moving. It costs me very little aside from like half a meal here, or five dollars there.... maybe a relative gives me a dirty look or my mother would scold me...... but the payoff is that human beings life...... they are not suffering anymore. perhaps trivial in the entire worlds suffering. Maybe I can't save the world, and maybe I can't create some super gov't program cure for addiction, but I can help that man get up on his feet with a sandwich..... if I just keep doing that. I can't make violence end, I can't stop all addiction, and I can't cure cancer (probably), Maybe, just maybe, I can leave the world better than I found it, and for those two people, I did end their suffering in time.

Thanks for reading, and please pay it forward,
Earl

P.S.- If I tagged you; don't feel like you have to comment, and definitely don't thank me, I didn't really do anything. If you must act, share this story, and help your fellow humans alongside me.

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Never get tired of this. No matter how many times I watch it.