Tis the Season For Giving!

Yesterday as I was leaving the studio after spending the whole day doing a radio show, excited to get home and see the kids, watch the game, have a nice hot dinner, and just relax I was approached in the radio station parking lot by a homeless man. Dirty clothes, smelling of booze, and what looked like Cheetos all over his face, he asked me if I had any money so he could put gas in his car to get back from Windsor to Greeley where he lived. With all those things I am blessed with still heavy on my mind I told him I was sorry but I had no money (even though I knew I had some cash in my pocket, and even some loose change in my truck). He then went over to the front of the building where the Pete, the general manager of the radio station, was on a ladder putting up some Christmas lights on the building. I drove around the back of the building to leave and came back towards the front as that is on my way home. I looked back and I see Pete reaching up on the ladder digging through his wallet while the man patiently waited in the cold.

Pete could have just as easily told the man he had no money and went on with the lights, but he took the two minutes and two or three dollars out of his day to give to someone who needed it more than he did. Maybe more people give to these type of people than I realize, but for some reason that warmed my heart for the rest of the night, and constantly popped into my head throughout the night. As I treated my family to completely unnecessary items such as Dairy Queen on a below freezing night I couldn't help but to think about the man who now may be sitting in the cold because I choose ice cream over him.

I have always been one of those guys who said Taco Bell and McDonald's are always hiring so go get a job, you are not getting my hard earned money, but do I know what they are going through, where they have been, why they are in the situation they are in? The answer is no I don't, and although I cant help everyone who is in need, I think it would have given me the warm feeling I got from Pete giving to him times two knowing that I was one of the few "good" people we have left in the community.

Does it surprise me that Pete did what he did, no, he actually wrote a blog abut this very subject last month. He says in the blog "I guess my point is that people need help. We should choose to help or not help for real reasons, not because there’s a handy assumption or judgment that allows us to comfortably look the other way." I don't know why he gave, but he chose to give. More people like the me of yesterday, the selfish at times, need to take a deep breath, and remember not all are as fortunate. Be like Pete, if you have an extra dollar, give. If you have an extra 5, give. Give, not because I told you too, or you think that it gets you in good hands with karma, but because it warms your heart and you are one of those "good" people.

I know in my heart I am a "good" person, now it's time to prove it.

Read all of Pete's blog here.