The other day I passed a man along a freeway exit ramp with a sign asking for money. The car line was long, and none of us dared roll our windows down. Doing so would require letting the bitter, bitter cold in. Did I mention, the bitter cold part? BITTER.
There was nothing special about him. He was alone, cold, and looking, well, pathetic.
Driving past these people is what I always do. I'm not a stopper. And, I don't carry cash (except quarters for any and all gumball machines, because HELP US ALL if I pass a gumball machine and Abby doesn't get one).
A blog post came to mind from several months back on Dooce.com about giving money to a stranger in need.
I knew there was a dollar hiding out in the bottom of my purse that had yet to be sucked into the magic quarter machine. Something got into me.
All the kids were with me and have heard my rants on not giving money to strangers. When my window rolled down the car went silent. As I drove past, slowing just enough for a hand exchange, the man looked right at me and said "God bless you."
It's a generic line, but, heck, i'll take some more of those! If he was willing to stand on that awful corner, humbling himself for all to see, freezing himself for food? for a family? Then yeah, he needed that dollar more than me.
Although that is a rarity for me, it felt good, and tasted way better than a gumball. Even a pink one.
I don't have a blogroll on the sidebar of my blog because, I READ TOO MANY, and I would be embarassed to have anyone see just how many are in my google-reader. It would be like having someone actually keeping count of how many Reeses Pieces I can eat in a sitting, you know?
So, to all the writers of the many blogs that I read, like Carrie, Allyson, Birdeena, Leigh, Kiersten, Kelly, and lots of others (even the private blogs), thank you for your stories that inspire me to be better than myself.
