Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A few years ago (when I was in college) and comically poor, I had just made up with my parents and was headed home for the first time in a few years. I'd dropped out and was working for t-mobile and made a decent life supporting myself but a few months prior to  I had a meltdown and realized I had to go back to school. I caved, called my dad, and asked for help.

Before I started driving the ~9hrs home, I decided to stop at the grocery store to grab some chips, red bull, etc. It was a few days before Christmas, and I was super down on myself about how poor I was, how my parents were paying for me to head up, how I felt like such a waste, and how I felt like I'd failed to support myself.

!I went in, grabbed some stuff, then realized I was too broke to afford it! So I walked outside and happened to notice this homeless dude who couldn't have been much older than 30. He seemed like a normal guy, a little down on his luck. He did not seem creepy, or like he was on drugs. He looked really unfortunate. It was freezing, pouring rain, and he asked if I had a dollar. I didn't.

I started crying because I didn't have a dollar. I got in my car feeling like a total waste, until I realized that I'd been the one who drove to my fraternity's retreat a few days earlier, and until then hadn't even realized that the trunk of my4Runner was PACKED with camping supplies: Full bags of charcoal, lighter fluid, a costco pack of water, gatorade, a 30 pack of beer, costco boxes of Dorito's, cereal, and one of those massive boxes of Goldfish crackers.

I wiped my face, called the guy over, and walked toward him with as much of it as I could carry. It took me two trips but I gave him everything I had. The look in this man's eyes pierced my soul: they were full of gratitude. He couldn't speak. I smiled, started my car, and left.