Helping Others

This could be long or this could be short, it really depends on my attention span. Those who know me know all about the evils of my rapidly evaporating attention span. I don't finish sentences and i don't listen to my voicemail. I look to see who's called, or I listen long enough to get your voice, and that's all the message I need. Oh, but we're not on about that right now...short tangent rant full stop.

Ok, do you like to help others? Lots of people do, it gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling, "I'm a good person" mantra. Yadda Yadda Yadda. So yeah, my mom taught me to help others, just like your mom did. Usually this manifests itself in holding open doors, giving your seat to pregnant women and people of the previous generation. It can show up as giving a buck to the homeless guy on that corner or the bell ringer at your mall. Some people do more, i mean they actually schedule charity time as a lifestyle. A woman here at work, Brenda, does great things with the youth group from her church. Another woman I know, Anna, does amazing things with troubled young women, giving them a chance to take back a derailed life. These people I admire almost above all others. I haven't made volunteerism a part of my life...I'd like to hope "yet". But I do stop to help when i can, and I do it in what some think are the oddest of ways. Certainly odd things have happened as a result of my reaching out.

I used to have a big black German Shepard named Cody. He was about as scary as a dog can be to look at, but he was a big puppy full of love and joy. He and I used to go around to bus stops on Christmas eve and load up as many people in my Ford Explorer as we could fit and take people where they needed to be. I no longer have Cody or the Explorer, but I still stop at bus stops, especially when it's raining, and pick up people. Unfortunately, I only take women these days without Cody to scare the bad guys into behaving. I've never had a bad experience, just some funny looks when I pull up beside a bus stop and ask if anyone needs a ride. Try it some time, I can tell you that it will sure be appreciated.

Ahhhhh, and now, before we've even gotten to the meat of the story, I've grown weary of the topic :) So, three very brief encounters that have happened while trying to help others:

One, saw an elderly gentleman whose old car had broken down, offered him a lift home and he decided to make a pass at me, took every single minute of the 20 min ride home to tell me what a great life we could have on his $600 a month pension. I can't believe I let that opportunity pass me by!

Two, met a hungry homeless person on a bus who followed me home and I felt bad for him and fed him, which he took as a sign that i was madly in love with him and wanted to make boom boom with him. Had a hell of a time getting him out of the apartment, didn't want to hurt him, but COME ON!

Three, stopped to help a man passed out in his car, thought he was having a heart attack, turns out he was drop dead drunk. He was a sheriff and his uniform was hanging up in the back seat. Felt safe taking him home as I was with a co-worker, but he wouldn't tell me where he lived, instead, we took him back to work, at an Air Force chapel, where he proceeded to take the entire staff hostage at gunpoint because a female chaplain refused to go out with him. I didn't get any commendation medals for that one!

So helping people is good, and helping some people is good for a laugh :)