Doers and Dreamers

Homeless

The woman who slouched down in the front seat of the bus distressed me.  Her hair was matted, her face dirty, and though it was a cold night outside, she was wearing only a flimsy cotton dress and a blanket through which she had torn holes for her arms.

What should I do?  I wondered.  She was so obviously in need.  And at Christmastime too.  Wasn't there some shelter I could direct her to, some place where she'd get all the attention she required?  No, I finally reasoned, her problems were too much for me.

As I pondered -- and rejected -- possible solutions to the woman's plight, the bus came to a stop.  A young man, poorly dressed but neat, rose to leave.  He had got out and the bus had started up again before I really noticed what he had done.  He had slipped off his black knit gloves and laid them on her lap.

John R. Sisley, Jr.

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I copied this story down years ago and don't remember where I saw it to give proper credit.  If you know where this may have been printed, please let me know.

Although it isn't Christmas there are still people with whom we see that might need our help.  I like to think the gentleman in the story above had empathy but was overwhelmed.  How many times have you been in a similar situation?    What do you do when you pass a homeless person on the street or in a park?  Have you stepped up to help someone out in a grocery line that came up shy on money?

I'm certainly not passing judgment here.  I've passed up homeless people.  Except I remember a time that I gave some food from my grocery bag to a gentleman on the corner at a light and he dropped it in the gutter thinking I didn't see.  Guess he wanted money more than he wanted to eat.

Do you remember when there used to be a small dish by the cash register with a sign that said, "need a penny take one, have a penny leave one"?  Wasn't that a neat way to pay it forward?  Guess that's what the Law of Attraction is all about.  Sometimes it the small things that really matter in the end.  If we do enough small things, they must add up to a big thing.  Right?
P.S., How did this story and my comments affect you?  Please send me an email or share in the comments.

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