01/06/2024
Yes, that is a roll of toilet paper. Most will scroll past just like most of us do in life.
I had to run to work this morning after I decided to change my plans for the day in just the slightest way. As I was headed to work to grab something really fast for a project in my basement I noticed an older man walking. He was carrying a case of cat foot in one arm and a case of toilet paper in the other hand. As I passed he lost grip of the case of toilet paper. I felt the urge to turn around and offer to give him a ride. Instead, I kept driving. On my way back I find the man at most 400 yards further than where I passed him the first time. This time I turn around and ask the man if I can give him a ride. With very few words he gets in the passenger side of my Jeep. I ask him where we are headed and he seems a bit confused and unable to form much of a sentence. I check the temperature on my dashboard and it says it has warmed to 31 degrees, but the wind is 10-15 miles per hour. With a small blanket of fresh snow his shoes were a bit wet. His hands struggled to work and I could imagine the cold sting of the cold on his toes.
We begin to drive. At the first stop sign we pass through and he indicated we needed to turn right. We turn around and all he can say is I am sorry. I tell him don’t worry at all. As we come to the same stop sign he tells me in fact we actually needed to take a left. He seems a bit confused. He repeats the I am sorry over and over and my answer is always the same. As we head down the street he points to a house at the end of the road. A small brick house that is likely build well before even my parents were born. I pull up in the drive and notice windows that have cardboard to block the cold winter air. This is clearly a man of very meager means. He gets out and I head to my house.
As I get home I realize I had watched him drop a case of toilet paper. I realized he was likely unable to carry the rolls any further due to the biting wind rendering his hands useless which explained why I had to pull the handle to let him in my Jeep. So I leave my house again and head to see if I could in fact find the abandoned necessities of his walk. With many passing cars I locate it sitting dead center in the sidewalk not more than 100 feet beyond where I had witnessed him struggle to hold on. I retrieve the toilet paper and return to the place where this grey haired man lived. The man sees me return to his driveway and meets me at his door. He has regained a bit of his faculties and was able to answer that there were no other abandoned goods left behind in his 5 mile round trip to the store. As I leave I get a simple thumbs up.
Why do I share this? It is simply to bring attention to the things the universe guides us to do. That the world is much bigger than our own little lives. Pay attention to the needs of others and you will live a much more enjoyable existence. Karma is doing the right thing and expecting nothing in return. Be kind to each other. In the end “we are all just walking each other home”.
