Today, as I was riding a transit bus from Unicity to downtown, I did not realize that I would be a witness to something amazing.
The ride was, as usual, long and uneventful, until we reached the corner of Portage and Main Street. That's when the driver pulled over. This, of course, surprised all of the passengers on the bus. But, what happened next still brings tears to my eyes.
The bus driver jumped off the bus to chat with a man that looked to be down on his luck; by all accounts, a homeless man. I first thought the driver was going to offer the man a ride until our driver took off his own shoes and gave them to the man on the sidewalk.
That is when I realized that the man the driver was chatting with was barefoot. The bus was dead silent. I think we were all stunned and speechless. As we proceeded to our next stop, one of the passengers got up to speak to the driver.
"That was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Why did you do that?"
"I just couldn't stand the thought of that poor man walking without shoes," the bus driver answered.
Wow. No judgment. It was just, "Here buddy, you need these more than I do."
There wasn't a dry eye on the bus. All the passengers were moved by this bold and selfless gesture.
Now, a homeless man will have shoes for his feet because of a bus driver's random act of kindness.
Not bad for a Tuesday morning in downtown Winnipeg.
[From a post on Community News Commons by Denise Campbell. Re-posted on Winnipeg Free Press.]
- Posted by mssmileyface
- Jan 12, 2013
- Comments (24)
