Knock knock knock on my door. I rise up out of my nap and find some guy rapping on my door. Oh no, not another one I'm thinking. "Hey Driver, can you help a feller out?" he asked. Wonder what this guy's story is going to be? They all have one and some are actually pretty good at telling them. Today we were a sergeant from Fort Bragg on his way back after going home to his brother's funeral. An E-6 he claimed. Said some girl came to his hotel room and asked to borrow some shampoo. While he was in the bathroom getting it, she borrowed his wallet from his pants that were lying on his bed. I always answer my door in my underwear I'm thinking. He needed to get back so he would not be AWOL and late for his plane back to Afghanistan. He's driving a decent looking silver car. Not sure of the make or model but it does look nice. Noticed the license plate was replaced by a piece of cardboard so I asked him about that. Turns out they rented him a car with a missing plate and the police told him to put the cardboard there. Right away I'm thinking he should have a rental agreement to prove who he was but I'm just not interested in dealing with it so I kick out ten bucks and at least this one actually pulled up and put some gas in the car.
Now I say actually because over the years, I bet my door has been knocked on a thousand times in this fashion. Always a sob story and sometimes actually true. But how do I know? How does anyone really know? Sure I like to help out if I can. But I'm not much into getting taken either. Thinking it was about two months ago I listened on the radio about how these bums were living just down the street in nice houses and were paying for them by just standing on a busy corner looking hungry.
But over the years I learned by experience how to deal with them in my own fashion. One lady with a teary eyed little girl in the back seat wanted twenty bucks to by some milk for her child. I was parked about ten feet from a phone booth. Quick as she could, she walked over and informed her dealer she would be right there for a fix. Never did see her buy any food for the young baby. From that I learned never to give cash.
So I went to offering them to step inside the store or pull up to the pump and I would pay to feed them and gas up their car. Funny thing about that was once I got inside, they would be nowhere around. Go figure. Out in Weatherford, TX, at the chrome shop I made an offer to pay for the guy's hotel room and buy him and his wife's breakfast at the restaurant. Would you believe that I was a raciest because I would not just give him the money because he was black? He cussed me out and walked off screaming about what kind of person I was. Thinking I saved myself about a hundred bucks on that one.
Thing was for me today though, is I believe in a thing called "Paying it Forward" Some of you may have seen the movie and know what I'm talking about. For those that haven't is goes basically like this. Someone does a good deed for you when you need it. But instead of paying that person for it because they did it out of the kindness of their heart, you pay it forward to someone else down the road.
My wife and I have always done this. Once, some free pumpkins for Halloween giving to us in South Carolina fixed the canopy on a camper trailer for someone up in Washington State. Today's pay back was a two part deal for me. A shop up in Cheyenne, WY swapped the pulley on my alternator for me free of charge so my "Pay It Forward" was a bolt a driver needed to get his truck going and today's ten dollar bill to what I hope was a service man on his way back to post. Thing is about today though, I don't think it really mattered. So what if I was taken. Sometimes we just have to have a little faith in mankind and just do the right thing. I can always skip a meal and I will break even in the deal. Skipping that meal will probably do me better than whatever he will do with that ten dollars anyway. And of course I got to pay it forward once again. I look forward to doing that.
People helping people, in a good old fashioned way. Somehow, I feel a little better about the world tonight. And besides, look at it this way. How much would you pay to go to live theater just to watch top notch actors do a play. Fifty to a hundred bucks a seat? Could be. I just got the same thing for ten bucks and did not even get out of my truck. Now thats a deal any day, don't you think?
Jeff Head Like Today's Thoughts?. Don't forget to share or add me as your friend
