|
I regained a bit of my faith in humanity, today.
|
View this Thread in Original format
| wwu.punisher |
I catch the express out of downtown Seattle at the same stop every day around 4:00PM. There's a homeless man who seems to "live" in the general area, but he's rather old and never says anything to anyone. In fact, he just sits there staring out into the street or flipping through a random discarded magazine most days.
Today, a younger guy in a business suit was standing next to me as we waited for the bus. I'd never seen him at that stop before. He was there before me, so I don't know how long he'd been waiting, but after standing there for a minute after I arrived, he glanced over at the old man, then at his watch... and then he did something that I never would have expected someone like him to do. (Expensive business suit, expensive sunglasses, expensive briefcase... didn't strike me as the giving type.)
Anyway.
There's a cafe right next to that bus stop that makes really, really good sandwiches. This guy steps past me, crosses the street, and walks into the shop. A few minutes later, he came back out with a sub sandwich, a big bag of chips, and a bottled water. He comes back across the street and crouches next to the old man. I couldn't hear what he said to the guy because of the passing cars, but he not only handed the old man at least $10 worth of food... he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and handed him a wad of bills as well.
It looked like there were several bills, and the one on top was a $20.
I don't think any of the 20+ people at the stop knew what to make of it, including myself. Judging from the look on his face, I don't think the homeless guy knew what to make of it, either. He just sat there, staring at the kid with his mouth hanging open. The kid stood back up, turned around, and returned to the curb where he was standing when I got there. He didn't say a damn thing. Just acted like it's something that he does every day.
Now, I give spare change to bums who look like they need it every once in a while... but to buy somebody dinner AND empty your wallet for them... that amazes me.
Like the title says... I regained a bit of my faith in humanity, today. |
|
|
| ierxium |
You could've asked him for a free meal for yourself.
|
|
|
| Warez Guy |
| Thats a cool thing, never seen it happen in real life before, just in movies. Only thing you've got to watch out for these days is if the bum will just turn around and spend the money on booze or drugs, then it seems kind of useless. |
|
|
| djHollen |
| my pop does that to the poor bums in my town |
|
|
| wwu.punisher |
| quote: | Originally posted by ierxium
You could've asked him for a free meal for yourself.
|
It's painfully obvious that you've never seen how bad some of the people in downtown Seattle have it, man. Seriously. New York bums get treated like royalty compared to Seattle bums. Most people just walk past them like they're invisible or dodge them like they're living garbage. Imagine how that would feel. |
|
|
| djHollen |
| quote: | Originally posted by wwu.punisher
It's painfully obvious that you've never seen how bad some of the people in downtown Seattle have it, man. Seriously. New York bums get treated like royalty compared to Seattle bums. Most people just walk past them like they're invisible or dodge them like they're living garbage. Imagine how that would feel. |
ummm....people do exactly the same thing in new york |
|
|
| ierxium |
| quote: | Originally posted by wwu.punisher
It's painfully obvious that you've never seen how bad some of the people in downtown Seattle have it, man. Seriously. New York bums get treated like royalty compared to Seattle bums. Most people just walk past them like they're invisible or dodge them like they're living garbage. Imagine how that would feel. |
I know what you mean. Poor people are everywhere though. But I'll agree, it was a good gesture by the young man. |
|
|
| trunks1022 |
| quote: | Originally posted by djHollen
ummm....people do exactly the same thing in new york |
yep that's kinda what we do. :( |
|
|
| lücid |
| quote: | Originally posted by djHollen
ummm....people do exactly the same thing in new york |
i got so used to ignoring people in NY (bums, salespeople, people handing out flyers, etc) that when i moved to WI everyone thought i was the biggest bitch just because i'd kind of be in my own world and not pay attention to people trying to get my attention at malls and ... one guy working at a cell phone kiosk got pretty pissed. i actually stopped and apologized and explained to him that i'm from NY so i just ignore people out of habit, heh. |
|
|
| Dmatrox |
i bet that homeless guy had some good crack and a hooker that night.
:eyespop: |
|
|
| Psiweaver |
| Good job on the young guys part. I normally don't give to homeless people because generally there homeless because of drugs/alchohol. Unless i can tell they really need it. |
|
|
| Xilver |
That's cool, should be more people like that.
I only went to the USA once, with school, and we went to Seattle. This one time, we got breakfast on the bus, and nobody really liked the bagles we got. So one of my friends gets out of the bus, and wants to give this bagle to this bum that was sitting there. He basically told him to off with his bagle :D
Guess bagles aren't really popular with bums... |
|
|
|
|
