In the spirit of Christmas,I thought I would share this story with you.
It happened this June on a HOT Atlanta day when the heat indexes were well in the 100's.
Hubby was getting ready to leave for work and he noticed a car parked by our mail box.Mail boxes on our road is on the left side of the road so our house faced our mailbox.He noticed it was an older woman and asked her if she needed help,she said that she was okay and had run out of gas.He had some gas in a gas can and offered it to her.This was also around the time gas prices went sky high.
He left for work asking me to keep an eye on the woman.Around 12.00 in the afternoon he wanted to know if she was still there and I peeped outside and yes,she was still parked there.He asked me to go outside and offer her some water.People who know me know how much I hate talking to strangers but I did walk upto her car.She was an older woman looked like someones grandma and she mentioned that she was waiting on a ride.I gave her the water and told her to come upto the house if she needed anything.30 minutes later she came up and asked to use the bathroom.I showed her where it was and was silently freaking out.I am suspicious of any stranger.She finished with the bathroom and asked if she could use the phone which she did.In the meantime I got her an energy drink since it was still blazing hot outside.
At 2.00 in the afternoon she was still there,so I took her some bags of chips and some juice.She thanked me and was very grateful.I felt bad as I was so suspicious.I came inside the house and something made me go on Guideposts.org and send a prayer request for her.
Later on that day hubby got a call from a good friend who said that the woman was his sister and she had called him from our house and he recognised our house when he came to pick her up.She had a problem with alcohol and had not told her family where she was till she called him from our house
I was so ashamed of myself.I could have invited her inside to sit in the airconditioning,made her lunch but on the other hand suspicion got the better of me.
"Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you..."
10 comments:
You did a good deed Frasy. The Golden Rule is a fantastic guidepost for your life, well done. I'm Jewish, and I do my best to always pay attention to it.
I saw you at Geeez. You need to try my hot wings sauce!
Morgan
i hope you don't feel bad frasy....i think you did well for the lady all things considered! had you completely ignored her for the entire day things may have turned out differently what with the scorching heat and all....
I'm torn on this one frasy. I think you treated this woman very kindly; many wouldn't have allowed a total stranger into their house, let alone provided drinks;) Mostly because nowadays doing so could have fatal results (okay, so maybe I read too many crime files). I think it also showed a caring heart to put in a prayer for her. Maybe your kindness that day will have an influence on her life.
New to your blog--the title of this post caught my eye on Suz's blog.
You did more than a LOT of people would. Please give yourself the credit you deserve!
My mom really preached The Golden Rule to me growing up. Sometimes I err on the side of too compassionate, or more importantly, too trusting! You have to be careful.
You did the right thing... you saw that she was hydrated, had a bathroom to use, a phone, and you kept an eye on her. As I said, that's more than many (if not most) people would do.
I know where you are coming from. I'm pretty suspicious too but husband absolutely exemplifies the 'Do unto others stuff'.
He will always try and stop to help people and give them a hand if they are in trouble. If he's got the time, skill, or it doesn't cost him too much to help he is happy to do so.
Thinks one day if he needs help, it might be nice if someone did the same.
Of course you did the spot-on right thing, and it is hard to get away from our fears and suspicions.
Don't kick yourself.
Kate
You did a good thing, don't feel bad about it. You have every right to be suspicious...there are a lot of bad people out there.
My 95 yr old grandma let people into her house and they robbed her. You did as much as you could and should have. :)
To think you are still bothered by this so much later. Shows your heart. That's a good thing. I don't know what I would've done in that situation. Probably the same and I would've been freakin' out the whole time, too! If it is really bothering you, maybe just hold onto the memory and don't make the same mistake (that maybe only you think you made) twice. But don't beat yourself up over it. You can't change the past; you can merely learn from it and move on. The past is what molds us. Makes us more like His son--if we allow it.
well look at it this way poo. she still was in a "safe" place the whole time whether you felt comfortable with her being there or not. so you did comfort her. which means you did ok!!!
Hi Fraz I just stopped by to wish you a great weekend.
*smile*
Good blog you did good frasy.
Have a nice weekend.
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