An Act of Kindness to a Stranger

   I gave a man $10 today.  
   I was in Tulsa, and he approached me, asking if I had "anything against a brother from Stillwater."  
   I smiled and said, "Well, I'm from Stillwater and no, I don't have 'anything against a brother.'"
   He needed to pay off a bill in Tulsa before he could head back to Stillwater when he had just landed a fulltime job.  He showed me the bill and said he still had a ways to go.
I took a ten-dollar bill out of my billfold, handed it to him, and said, "Now you're $10 closer."
   He shook my hand and hugged me and said God must have sent me (actually, my wife had sent me to pick up some batteries on the way home from teaching in Tulsa, but he was so joyous I didn't mention that).
   I said, "I have confidence you'll get the rest of what you need."
   "Thank you for believing in me," he replied and hugged me again.


   Maybe I was played, but his troubles seemed genuine to me.  And who am I to judge?  I've had a bit of a struggle myself (massive understatement) for the past few years, so I'm probably more sympathetic to the plights of folks with misfortunes.  I'm all about good fortune, and if I can help it along, so much the better.