Cell Phone Epiphany

The other day as I was walking to meet my friends for a fun night out, a woman sitting on the sidewalk asked if I had a cellphone that she could use.  I was in a rush.  I quickly said No and kept walking.  As I got further down the street my mind was still with that woman.

Was she stranded?  Was she alone? Scared? Feeling hopeless?  Of course I had a phone.  It's not like its a finite commodity.  The only thing that I would have lost is a few minutes of time at the bar.  What kind of person could have walked away.  But it was too late now.  The damage was done.  My karma would come kick me later right?

As I neared the door to the bar I still couldn't let it go.  My guilt was swirling in.  It had been such a simple request.  Wasn't I someone who believed in helping others?  I turned around and walked back.  She must have thought I was crazy as I handed her my held-together-by-rubber-band dumb phone out of breadth from my quick trot back to the corner.  She smiled though and I know that I had been able to help.

Sometimes its so easy to help make someones day.  Sometimes its a smile, or the use of a cell phone.  Sometimes its bigger.  The important thing is that every day there are people out there going out of there way to help someone.  Maybe someone they don't even know.  This experience made me remember that the people who go out of their way to help others, they think the same way that I do.  They have lives, and responsibilities   and families to care for.  They have their own troubles.  But they know that if they can help, they should.  And they are the heroes of this broken world.  They are the ones who will build a new world from the pieces.  This blog is dedicated to them.