Saturday, November 20, 2010

Never too old for...
giving

I pulled up to a traffic signal the other day and a man walked off the curb and toward my window. My passenger urgently told me, "Don't roll your window down. These people just want money so they can go drink themselves to death."

I was already reaching for my purse. I give when asked. I don't usually go overboard, but I do give people in need a couple of bucks.

Imagine both our surprise when the man tapped on my window and, without waiting for me to roll it down, called out, "Your left front tire is going flat and you need to stop ahead at that car place and get it fixed!"

I stopped mid-roll-down and smiled. "Thank you very much!" I told him as the light turned green and we proceeded on our way.

To the car place ahead.

I glanced over at my passenger with what might have seemed a bit of triumph on my face. "Well," I said, "not what you thought, huh?"

To which she replied, "Nope, but not what you thought either, huh?"

Sometimes what a person wants is just to tell us something that could help us avoid a bad day. Sometimes it's not what we think.