I'm leaving work Thursday night when this African woman on the sidewalk says, "Excuse me". I stopped, thinking she's going to ask me for directions or something. She said, "Do you have 75 cents? I'm a single mom, trying to take care of my children and it would really help me if you could give me 75 cents". Typically, my automatic thought to myself is, "Get a job, I've struggled too and I'm making it work". Instead, I was compassionate, and acknowledged her for her courage and what it must take to ask for money. I looked in my wallet and gave her all the money I had--which wasn't much because I don't carry a lot of cash on me. She thanked me and off I went.
Later that night, I had Erik's new roommate come by my apartment to unload the last of the stuff from my old apartment. He and I know each other from the Gym I use to go to before I moved--he's a personal trainer. He asked me if I had joined a new gym. I said, "No, walking costs me nothing and I don't have $60.00/month to spend in fitness right now". He paused for a moment and said, "Listen, I would like to make a difference for you. Come join the gym that I'm working for, I won't make any money off you, it will only cost you $20.00/month and I'll train you once a week until maternity leave". Shocked, I said, "Are you kidding me? You'll let me join your gym, train me once a week all for $20.00 a month and no registration fee"? He said, "Absolutely". Then, I remembered giving that woman my last red cent and thought to myself, "Being generous and compassionate with that woman who stopped me, created this opening for me to have generosity come back two fold"!
Amazing what a shift in context of who people are can create in the world!! Go out and be generous and compassionate and transform someone's life! ;-)
Peace & love!
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