Which Force Are You A Part Of?

I was day tripping to Vancouver from Seattle and stopped in for lunch at a little cafe. From my window I saw a young teenage girl out in the cold, squatted down in a closed up businesses doorway, holding a small bundle in her arms. She was panhandling, people were mostly walking by ignoring her. She looked just broken.

I finished up my meal and went outside, went through my wallet and thought I’d give her $5 for some food. I got up to her and she was sobbing, she looked like she was 14-15. And that bundle in her arms was a baby wrapped up. I felt like I just got punched in the chest. She looked up putting on a game face and asked for any change, I asked her if she’s like some lunch. Right next door was a small quick-Trip type grocery store, I got a can of formula for the baby (very young, maybe 2-3 months old.), and took her back to the cafe though I’d just eaten. She was very thankful, got a burger and just inhaled it. Got her some pie and ice cream. She opened up and we talked. She was 15, got pregnant, parents were angry and she was fighting with them. She ran away. She’s been gone almost 1 full year.

I asked her if she’s like to go home and she got silent. I coaxed her, she said her parents wouldn’t want her back. I coaxed further, she admitted she stole 5k in cash from her Dad. Turns out 5k doesn’t last long at all and the streets are tough on a 15 year old. Very tough. She did want to go back, but she was afraid no one wanted her back after what she did.

We talked more, I wanted her to use my phone to call home but she wouldn’t. I told her I’d call and see if her folks wanted to talk to her, she hesitated and gave bad excuses but eventually agreed. She dialed the number and I took the phone, her Mom picked up and I said hello. Awkwardly introduced myself and said her daughter would like to speak to her, silence, and I heard crying. Gave the phone to the girl and she was just quiet listening to her Mom cry, and then said hello. And she cried. They talked, she gave the phone back to me, I talked to her Mom some more.

I drove her down to the bus station and bought her a bus ticket home. Gave her $100 cash for incidentals, and some formula, diapers, wipes, snacks for the road.

Got to the bus, and she just cried saying thank you over and over. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and a hug, kissed her baby, and she got on the bus.

I get a chistmas card every year from her. She’s 21 now and in college.

Her name is Makayla and her baby was Joe.

I’ve never really told anyone about this. I just feel good knowing I did something good in this world. Maybe it’ll make up for the things I’ve f-ed up.

What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done that no one knows about?

Via Reddit.

How fast is time to you?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

We, Humans, did this! This is bigger than “Men” or “Americans”, or “Caucasians”, or “Engineers” or any other separate subset of humanity.

We, Humans, visited another planet, almost 40 years ago. We live in a reality that was the realm of Science Fiction not too long ago, continuing to surprise with unbelievable acts of ingenuity.

We flew to the Moon and, surely, hopped around!

I feel grateful today.

Date: 2008-07-07, 10:59PM PDT

Ok, so people often ask, where are the good kind people anymore?

Driving on Mt.Rose Hwy, and serving our communties is where! So I’m coming home to Reno on my motorcycle Saturday Evening after a short ride up to the top and back down cuz it was too smokey up there, somewhere around 8pm I think? Anyways… Near the bottom, I hit some oil, gravel, not sure what… but even as an experienced rider for some 30+ years, made my bike wobble so bad, I eventually lost control after doing everything I could try to do to keep it up. From what I hear, might have even hit a guard rail at some point during the crash, no memory so not sure, all I do know is next thing I’m on the pavement in a ton of pain. Rolling in the road I think…

Stranger #1 -
Then, there was a hand… holding mine, comforting me thru my gloves… Kept hearing a voice that I think was female telling me “everything was gonna be ok” and “help is on the way”. Couldn’t really open my eyes much, that’s why I’m not sure if it was male or female, but it didn’t really matter at that point, ya know? I just know ’till the day I die, I will forever remember how comforting it felt to know that “if” I was gonna die then, someone was gonna be holding my hand while it happened and I would not die alone on some road tasting asphalt.

You have no idea what that meant to me, still does, and always will. You probably also have no idea how much gratitude I would like to express to you for the comfort you gave me, a complete stranger, when I really, REALLY needed it. I just remember your hand, rubbing mine and your soft, kind, compassionate words letting me know, someone cared. You didn’t just drive by, you took time out of your Holiday weekend to help me – some fat ass biker guy that some here on CL wish we would all crash and die.

Stranger #2
No clue who this was either, but someone called police/ambulance, etc. super quick and there they were, hot on the spot within minutes. (felt like minutes to me anyways, damn quick!), can’t thank you enough and damn glad ya had signal…hahaha!

Stranger #3
Again, same as the others, no idea who you were, but I heard someone else say something I think about removing my helmet. In my mind I was thinking please, please don’t do that, but I couldn’t say it. But you could and did, you spoke up and advised against it. Damn I am glad there are people like you who know better and again, my sincere appreciation and grattitude to you as well.

Strangers #4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc..
To all the police firemen/women, ambulance drivers, person in the back of the ambulance.. to all of you emergency responder type people who showed up who did whatever it was you had been trained to do, and loaded me on some kind of back board or something I think, and then put my big ol’ self in the ambulance and got me to Renown so quickly – my most humble thanks and appreciation as well. I know you were “just doing your jobs”, but damn you do them well! You will NEVER hear me bitch about your pay raises or what it costs for the absolute QUALITY services you provide our community! I do know of one policeman or hwy patrolmen who I think arranged to have my bike towed and visited me in the ER letting me know it’s condition and where it had been towed to, cuz he put his badge number on my insurance paper, as I get better in the next few days I would like to find you and thank you in person since I have a clue on maybe how to find you from the badge #. You also gathered my personal belongings I had on the bike that would have been stolen for sure. (cam corder, etc..) Yes, I know, small things to worry about in that moment, but you made sure I didn’t have to, again, thank you for going out of your way for my needs.

To all the Dr.s, Nurses, and whoever else was working in that ER room, my eternal thanks and grattitude as well. Man I was hurting, them ribs are a bitch when smashed, but you folks all again, did what you were trained to do in the finest proffesional manner (even on the embarssing stuff) and I just knew from all your demeanors, I was gonna be ok.

I am sure there are some typos and mis-spellings in this post, forgive me as i am on some pretty strong pills for pain, but i just got to my computer and wanted to get these thank yous out as soon as possible. All of you people just really have no clue what your kindness and compassion meant, and means to me even now.I would like to let you all know, that from your kindess, skills and so on… I’m going to be ok. Could have been a lot worse, but thanks to good people like you, a damn fine helmet and a little luck, both I and the bike are fixable.

If there is any chance of any of you “unknowns” letting me know who you are, I would greatly like to thank you all in person, if that’s not your style, I respect that and just know you meant alot to one hurting, scared guy, yeah… I was scared I’ll admitt to it no problem!

Last and not forgotten in any way, once I was admitted to the 3rd floor, all the Nurses, CNA’s, Orderlies, people waking me up every few hours to check my vitals and stuff, I also sincerely thank you, but since I know how to re-find you all, i will be seeing you again in person to thank you properly, especially Melissa, a nurse or CNA not sure, but one awesome lady I did not have enough time to thank properly today as I left! I really wish I could have stayed and healed longer as today really ended up hurting, but you know why I had to leave. You friggin ROCK!

Sincerely,
Tim H.

Location: Bottom of Mt. Rose Hwy
 

Whom would you like to say “thank you” to today?

And later this one:

And now this showed up:

Via boingboing.net