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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite Star Wars movie is Episode VI, The Return of the Jedi, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’ll share a story about a lesson I learned from one of my children.
Friday Forum
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What I Learned Yesterday:
Are you up for one more Chicago story? This is the last one for a while…I think. Remember a couple of episodes ago when I said that I want my kids to put others before themselves and make a positive impact on society? I know that the best way for them to learn that behavior is to see it demonstrated in me or my wife, Kari.
The thing is, I don’t think I’m particularly good at this. It’s not that I don’t care about other people or don’t like putting others first, I do. I think I’m pretty good about considering the feelings and thoughts of others most of the time, but I don’t know that I do a good job of demonstrating the behavior and teaching my kids.
I’ve taught them simple things like the seemingly forgotten courtesy of opening the door for others. I’ve taught them to always allow people off the elevator before you go in. I’ve taught them about being considerate of other drivers. I look at those as situational courtesy, and hope that they’ll teach principles that will flow down into everyday situations.
My wife and I are both homebodies. We are both perfectly happy saying at home and staying inside the vast majority of the time. I do like to get out from time to time and see the sun, but Kari would be totally content never leaving the house if she didn’t have to. Of course, this means that we don’t really get out and demonstrate acts of serving others a whole lot.
A few years ago I was in Chicago for a work related conference that I attended with a co-worker. One night after the conference had wrapped up for the day we walked up Michigan Avenue and checked out some of the stores and found a good place to eat. Later that evening as we were walking back to the hotel, a homeless man stopped us and handed us a newspaper. He asked if we had any money and said he only needed $8 to get a bed for the night.
I typically don’t carry cash. When I travel, I’ll usually carry a small amount of cash, but on that particular trip I had failed to go by the ATM before I left home. I told the man I had no money. My co-worker pulled out some money and handed it to him. The homeless man thanked my co-worker told me that he liked my shirt, and walked off.
Before he walked away I thanked him for the compliment on my shirt. It was a brand new shirt I had purchased right before we left town. It was just a plain black short sleeved button up shirt. I still think of the homeless man nearly every time I wear it. I felt bad that I had no money to offer the man. He may very well have used it to buy booze, but I probably would have helped him if I could have.
We walked the remaining 3 or 4 block back to our hotel and the second we stepped into our room I had a realization. I did have something that I could have given the man. I could have given him my shirt. I have plenty of shirts. The man said he liked it. He would have really loved it if I’d given it to him. I would have felt awesome too. Now I just felt bad that I’d missed the opportunity.
I thought about that story a lot before heading off to Chicago last weekend, but I didn’t mention it to anyone. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever told that story to anyone except my co-worker who was there when I realized I’d missed the opportunity.
This time my trip to Chicago was indeed different. However, again it wasn’t me who helped some of the homeless, it was my daughter. You know what, I’m going to let her tell the story. As I type this portion out, I don’t have any idea what she’ll say. Let’s ask her.
I really wish I could take some sort of credit for this, but Addison really deserves the praise.
Here’s what I learned. Opportunity to bless people is everywhere. Sometimes we seize those opportunities, and sometimes we miss them. Couldn’t you hear the smile on Addison’s face? Did those homeless ladies in Chicago get blessed by Addison’s actions? Of course they did. I think it’s pretty clear that Addison was blessed by her actions too. If you’re able to listen to this podcast, the chances are you are not homeless. You may not have much, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have something that you can give to others. You may be like me and not see the opportunity to bless someone until the moment is gone or you may be like Addison and find a cheap and easy way to bless someone. If you are like me, learn from those missed opportunities so that you can be ready for the next one that comes along. Let’s all take a page from Addison and open our eyes to the simple ways that we can bring a smile to someone who is down on their luck.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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