By Jesse Dolojan—
One day, I’m walking from Union Station, and it’s pouring rain. I had an awful day so far, so I’m in a horrible mood. I grab Chick-Fil-A from inside Union Station, two sandwiches and a cookie, and I am now making my way towards campus.
I see a lady standing around, but I don’t take a good look at her. She shouts something at me about money, and without thinking, I shoot her a glare. Our eyes meet for the first time, and her face morphs into a scowl. She begins to shout about how I’m nothing and how I will not amount to anything. As I walk past her, I don’t feel angry towards her. I am not afraid, and I feel no animosity towards her. Rather, I feel like I deserve this. I took my anger out on her when she did nothing wrong.
After I walked past her, I don’t feel any better eating my Chick-Fil-A. I don’t feel better about the initial glare either. If anything, I feel sad, sad that I took my anger out on someone rather than try to help them.
About a year later, I again walk down the street a few blocks from Union Station, and I look up at the sky. It’s such a beautiful day with the sun starting to set and the sky not knowing what color it’s supposed to be anymore. I enter a Subway and order a Chicken and Bacon Ranch Sub with two cookies. I head out, looking for a place to enjoy my food.
A man stops me, and I take a good look at him. He is fitted with an old coat, a black beanie, tattered shoes and jeans. He had a scraggly beard and long, unkempt hair.
It took me five seconds to realize that he was a homeless person, just like the lady in the rain. It has been almost more than a year from when I had my encounter with the woman in the rain. He looks at me and asks if he can have a cookie.
I look into my bag and grab all of my cookies and say, “You can have all of them.”
“Really?” the man asks.
I smile as I hand him the bag of cookies, to which he responds with his own timid smile. He starts walking away, and I begin to make my way towards campus.
I walk away and feel as if I had done a good deed; I helped redeem myself from my initial blunder from the past year. After reflecting on these moments, I wonder why I didn’t give him the sub, too.
As I walk back to campus, I feel much more gratified and happy when I offer to give my food to people who need it more than me; I feel like I was giving it to the world. In contrast, when I am rude to the homeless, I feel horrible, like I deserve whatever negative that happens to me.
After noticing these differences in my feelings, I start being nicer to people and being more willing to help, and I feel happier now than I have ever felt in my life. Because of this, I believe little things like being kind and helping others is one of the few ways that we can be truly happy.
Pam Valeiras • Apr 26, 2021 at 12:03 pm
Beautiful!