With 2 more final exams and 2 more days to go before I go home, I have been more than anxious to get out of this place. A wealth of knowledge to gain in this one night to even fathom passing these 2 exams, that have kept me from the one main thing on my mind...home.
I also had a couple other things on my mine, like why we as humans always feel inclined to know the answers? I am strangely not one of those kind of persons. I am extremely intrigued by life and all its dynamics, but I am very comfortable with God making the decisions as to WHY HE GIVES AND TAKES. Not to say I am not curious, but I really try not to let it consume me, but heah, I've always been an easy going cat, so I don't let many things consume me.
I preface this blog with my exams, because I should be studying right now, but whenever these weird acts of God occur, I have to blog.
So while walking down the street and actually pondering why God gives and takes, I was stopped by a white couple, an older man maybe in his late 50s and a slightly younger woman. They said "Excuse me", and I turned wondering if it was me they were talking to. Well it was me, so I approached them. He launched immediately into his story about coming to the hospital in Boston from their home in Rhode Island. They travelled to Boston on disability for his wife to have kidney surgery, and for some reason his wife couldn't be admitted because she was having an infection and needed to take a course of antibiotics. Fact of the matter was they were broke and couldn't stay at the hospital because she wasn't an inpatient, and they didn't fulfill the poverty requirements to stay in a shelter. They really just didn't have enough fare to go back to Rhode Island on the commuter rail, and were for some reason unable to travel back there on disability. Me being the Jamaican I am, I normally can sniff out bullshit scammers a mile out.
For some reason this seemed legit. They had their bags and pillows and she looked quite sick and actually was very passive in this process. They looked clean and just like regular folk who had a long day. As to why they didn't prepare for this unfortunate event before traveling all the way to Boston, i didn't really feel was my place to ask.
My initial instinct was to do what i normally do to people who beg me...I tell them I have no money, which is often true, but most times is a white lie (aka I have a little, but I really am not gonna give it to you right now, then I'll be like you tomorrow). But there was something all just weird about the karma of me thinking about WHY GOD GIVES AND TAKES, and then these people interrupted this very thought by sharing their story. Ironically I'm a black man with an non-American accent, and they ask me for help, so let's throw race and stereotypes out the door. This man said he stopped me because i just had a nice aura (keep in mind i am always smiling, but this moment I was very serious and walking at moderate pace just deep in thought; he coulda been charming me, who knows). I also have medical knowledge which they knew nothing of, and the medical story was actually legit (tho most scammers usually have very legit stories).
He showed me the fare they needed and he told me they needed about 6 or 9 dollars. I looked in my wallet to see what woulda been there. I saw a $1 and a $5, and without thinking too long I decided to give him the $5. They were both extremely grateful and he introduced himself and then asked me my name. This occurrance was extremely well aligned with everything going on in my mind and I couldn't say not o these people. Deep down I hope they are not a couple on drugs and my $5 goes to some cocaine, but for some reason I believed them, and I still do. I felt sorry for them. She looked sick and tired, and they had nowhere to stay, and the system had no where to put them. Unbelievable that in such a developed country there could actually be no place to house them.
I seek no extra praise for my actions. It just felt like it was the right thing to do, and I always tell people Karma is a Bitch, and it will come back to you. Today I got a cheese-covered potato from one of the ladies in the cafeteria. They were actually all finished, but the one on display looked so scrumptious, i just said kinda matter a fact that "That potato looks nice". After i go sit to eat I see one of the staff members approaching me, and I think she is going to sit with me and eat. She brings a cheese covered potato and gives to me. The lady had one prepared for me. An trus mi dis is a self-serve cafeteria. These kinda nice deeds hardly happen to me...and when they do they feel so special. So maybe I was paying forward my cheese potato just now by giving that $5.
I end in prayerful gratitute, again thanking the Lord for all he has given me. It has been an interesting journey thus far, and everyday I grow more and more and learn more and more. My condolences to some of the families I know that have lost loved ones recently. God gives and takes for reasons beyond our human understanding. We must grief and they find ways to continue in our mortal world, until that realm shall become clear to us. Until next time...lawd pay it forward to me dat mi flight nuh cancel because of snow. By di hook ar di crook mi a get to Jamdown Satiday. Nobady nah stap mi, all if a walk mi a walk gu dung deh!!
