I was driving back from the gym today and I saw this guy walking down the road, with a backpack on and garbage bag hanging off it. About 3 cars had to drive out of their way so they wouldn’t splash him with slushy snow. Considerate of them huh? It’s cold and wet and most of time I do the same thing. This time I pulled over and asked the man where he was going. He said he’s going to the grocery store. So I offered him a ride. He was trilled. So on the way to the grocery store he was telling me how many cans he can find walking in the ditch, which he was pretty excited about.
So he continued to talk about his cans and said he’ll need to go to the bottle depot so he can buy some food, then asked me if it was too much to ask to drop him off at the bottle depot instead of the store, which was a block or two away. Right before I stopped to let this man out he told me it was his 51st Birthday and that he was going to treat himself to a beer.
Today just so happens to be my mom’s birthday. So I’m sitting there in an SUV, with cash in my pocket, expensive presents given only a few hours ago and delicious meal waiting at home with family. I thought I have so much and he has so little and I still have time to complain about the things I don’t have. I gave this man 5 bucks and told him to let me buy the beer. You should have seen his face if you thought he was thrilled with the ride. He was so grateful, told me his name was Pete and thanked me as many times as he could before I drove away. The worst part of the whole ordeal is, I don’t even think I did it for Pete.
So I sit in my warm basement with a full belly, typing on my laptop computer and wonder what the difference is between Pete and me. We all make our own decisions that form our lives, sure some have it easier than others but ultimately we do have choices. I wonder what decisions Pete made that lead him down the road he’s on and I wonder how close I’ve come to making those same decisions that would have led me down a different road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCZ1YteCv5M