Good Samaritan

So, it's one of those days that I'm going to take a little detour from my health and fitness.  Yes, this blog is all about my trying to lose weight - but also about becoming a better person.  Becoming a better person isn't just modeled by how I look on the outside - but how I feel about myself on the inside. I've always considered myself to be friendly, kind, etc. but to be truly tested - and passing - is an amazing feeling.

Yesterday, Steve and I decided to go out to do some shopping.  While driving around the constructed maze which is the mall parking lot, we got behind a small black car.  As the car made a left hand turn (headed out of the mall) I saw something fly off of the car.  I told Steve to stop the car, and got out to see a woman's wallet laying open on the road.  I scooped it up and looked to see if I could see the car it came from- I couldn't.  When I looked back at the wallet - I just knew what I had to do.  The wallet was STUFFED with cash, and contained several store and credit cards.  I looked at the face on the driver's license, and my heart melted.  The girl looking back at me was a beautiful young girl.  As I started looking through the wallet, trying to find some kind of contact information I stumbled across a receipt from a bridal shop.  All I could think was "this poor girl either just got married, or is planning a wedding".  Even though I knew it was a long shot, I called the bridal shop.  The lady that I spoke to was such a delight.  She knew exactly who I was referring to when I explained the situation.  She explained that she couldn't give me the young girl's phone number, but gladly offered to contact the girl on my behalf.  For the next twenty minutes, I clung to my phone waiting for a phone call.  It finally came, and the young girl on the other end was in tears.  She explained to me that she had been at the mall with her young daughter and placed her wallet on the top of the car while getting her daughter into her car seat.  The girl had no idea that she had lost her wallet, until the call from the bridal shop came.  The gratitude that I felt from this girl sent a rush of warmth through my body.  About 15 minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot - her face still tear stained.  She offered to give me some money, but I refused.  I told her that being able to track her down and return her belongings was all the reward I needed.  I like to think that if something like that had happened to me, somebody else would of done the same thing.  I know that there are still plenty of good people in the world, and I am so proud to say that I'm one of them.

I've taken the opportunity today to brag about my good deed - but to also send out the message that I hear often:  There are still good people in the world.  I really hate to hear it put that way.  Is there really that many bad people in the world, that acts like mine deserve some kind of special recognition?  I don't like to think so.  I want to think that what I did would of been done by almost anyone - and that the possibility of someone taking the money and running would of been highly unlikely.  Is that a realistic thought?  Maybe not, but I don't want to live my life thinking about the negative....I live my life full of positivity.  I have been accused of being naive to my way of thinking - but someone has to be there to think positively about humanity.  My breed is a dying kind - on the verge of extinction some may say - but if I can make a difference for one person, to help them believe that there is still plenty of good in the world then I can be happy about that. 

So, today I leave you hopefully reading my story and thinking that you would of done the exact same thing if you had been in my position.  I don't want praise - I want to know that as you read this blog, you think about the good you have done for others and the good that has been done to you in return.  Don't dwell on bad things that have happened in your life - for those are the tests that make you stronger.  At the end of the day, it's how you handle the good with the bad that makes life worth living.

Till next time.  ;)