- Gave current magazines that we had already read to the gym at the Y.
- Burned a CD of kid's music and gave it to the Y child care center.
- Did some more stealthy coupon giving at Ralph's.
- Sent my mom a birthday card with a picture Evan made.
- Gave Jeff's aunt, who loves to crochet, a huge box of crochet thread that Evan's therapist gave me.
- I sent my nephew, who is 3 months younger than Evan and barely 1 size behind him, some more hand-me-down shirts (including a cool Star Wars one!)
- Put money in an expired meter to save someone from getting a $38 parking ticket.
- For our local homeless guy, Robert, who lives in his car and washes windows in the CVS parking lot, I bought him an iced tea when I was in CVS. When I gave it to him, I smiled and asked him how he was doing, which clearly shocked him, since I bet that doesn't happen very often.
I can't stand the Los Angeles parking authority. Santa Monica and Culver City are just as bad. Anyone that lives here will shudder when I mention "street cleaning." Once a parking authority woman screamed at me because I scrambled to put more money in the meter before she could give me a ticket. I have gotten illegal tickets when my meter was still active. I will do everything in my power to outsmart or divert their evil ways. So if I can help a fellow driver avoid a ticket, a dime is worth it - definitely to them, but also to me, for outwitting them. So this was kind of a selfish act of giving.
The last one was definitely out of my normal routine. I have passed this man dozens of times and politely declined his window washing services, rushing to get on with my errands. I'm sure people are not nice to him much of the day, and often look the other way and ignore him. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to have to live in your car and not have a lot of basic human support. So hopefully buying him a drink on a hot day, giving him a smile and asking how he is made a small difference in his day.
This is a very interesting exercise. It makes you think about being generous at times when you could just turn the other way.
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4 comments:
I remember one time where I was driving home from picking up some fast food dinner, and was stopped at a light where a homeless fellow had the standard "will work for food" sign, and I was so close to just handing him a couple of the ($1, so I had many) cheeseburgers I had, but then he kept moving on down the line of cars and the light turned green. This was months ago, and as you can see I still think about it at times. How nice it would be to be able to remember smiling and passing them through the window instead of driving off mentally kicking myself. So I admire your generosity and thoughtfulness.
Alison, you are a saint :)
The star wars one is the coolest - the older kids love it the most... thank you!
Thank you for supporting the challenge!
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