Pay It Forward

I have occasion from time to time with my job to drive through some ROUGH neighborhoods on the way to work. I really enjoy working with at-risk and under-served populations. Often the locations where services are provided to those populations makes my husband very nervous to say the least.

Yesterday morning as I was driving across town for my morning assignment, I was letting my mind drift to blogging and what my plans would be for this November with NaBloPoMo. Would I participate again? Would I do the Pay It Forward initiative that I did last year? At this exact moment I found myself stopped at a red light with a homeless man off to my right side. Not agressively panhandling, just a simple sign reading "HOMELESS, Please Help!" I'm not one to give on the street usually, I prefer to donate to soup kitchens, shelters, etc.

There was something about pondering pay it forward and a man who clearly could use a hand in this world that struck me. I reached over grabbed $5 out of my purse, gave it to him and told him to take care of himself.

An hour and a half later I was coming back from work and he was sitting on the side of the road eating McDonald's. It was all I could do to not openly sob.

He was hungry, I had helped.

I won't lie, it felt good.

Good to get out of my own head and help someone.

Take a moment when you can and do something nice for someone simply because you can.