Looking back, I have always tried to be a good person, and not just a "good" person but also a positive influence and an example of what a good friend is. Early on I realized that I had one of those "Cosby" Families that others didn't and for this I was often more stable, sound minded, and easy going. When you have a strong family backing you, it's a little easier to have confidence.

Any way, as I’m getting older, I realize that some need more than just encouraging words. So I've begun to volunteer at the church or donate money to the Red Cross and donate clothes and shoes to those little red boxes. And while I was yet about to break my arm patting myself on the back I met this girl, in her late teens or early twenties. This young lady was a clerk at a store that I was registering for my wedding. Of course this is how we struck up the conversation of the things I had and the things I needed.

Being the "giving" person that I am, I let her become the topic of conversation where she explained that she and her boyfriend wanted to get married too but didn't quite have the same schedules in life. (Some illnesses etc . . .) But she was certain that she had a good guy. When I asked how she was so sure she explained that over the Christmas holiday she and her boyfriend went to donate clothes, just like me. But this was the only way we were similar.

The next part of this story will prove them "not" to be just like me. You see, I went into my closet and pulled out clothes that I couldn’t fit or I didn’t care for anymore. Don’t get me wrong the clothes were still in great shape but not necessarily anything I wanted. They however, went to the missions and were donating their time feeding and clothing the less fortunate. One day when they were there, a younger boy with a bigger build came next in line for his handouts and discovered there weren’t any coats left. The girl’s boyfriend then apologized for the inconvenience and the younger boy said "it’s okay I haven’t gotten one all winter, I just come to expect it." Right then her boyfriend stated for the boy to stay right there, and with that he went out to his car and emptied his pockets and ran back into the building and handed that young man his brand new Abercrombie & Fitch jacket that he had received for Christmas. Right then she said, “I knew he was the guy for me.”

I thought, “Now that’s a giving spirit”! I realized right then that I had a ways to go, and we can always do more.

Linda
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Categories:
Acts of Kindness
Caring & Giving Spirit