Since the first half of my life was spent doing bad things to support a drug habbit, giving is something that brings joy and warmth to others, and myself, and has become a way of life. I have rectified all the wrongs in my past, that could be rectified without bringing more grief to the people i had wronged,but that just dosent do it. God brought me out of the self induced hell in wich i lived, so giving is easy, and one way i can make amends to humanity. Being homeless, and helpless taught me alot, and although im deeply sorry for the wrongs i comitted, im glad it brought me be the man i am today. Im sorry if this may seem off topic, but i view my new life as a huge gift.

 

one gift that I give ,is a blood donation ..I will never see the people it helps ,they will never know some greasy ,tired biker/truck driver stopped in to drop a pint ..how many of you here donate ?? in canada we get cookies and juice ,with a "thank you "..I'm up to 136 ,,and you ?

 

Two incidents really stand out for me.

The first was just before Christmas maybe 5-6 years ago. I went shopping for a gift for my wife and could only think of one store to find it. It was in a shopping center that once was the place to go but in the last 30 years the area really deteriorated and wasn't my first choice to go to. As I was leaving the parking lot I saw a full sized late '70s car sitting on an angle stuck in the snow bank. There was a little old lady in the car and a guy with a small import SUV trying to help her out. He only had a small rope and his vehicle wasn't up to the chore. I pulled up in my 1/2 ton 4X4 and I had a equipment that would work. With the help of the SUV owner I pulled the car off of the snow bank. It was getting late and it was like a blizzard outside. The lady looked really upset and I found out she was in her 80s and had a disabled husband at home. She was working to try to make ends meet and she was concerned about her husband at home by himself. I asked if she would allow me to park her car in the lot and let me take her home because I could see she was upset and wasn't in any condition to drive home in a blizzard. She could have someone help her the next day, after the storm, to get her car. She told me she didn't think I should drive her home because she lived in low income housing and there were gangs there. I told her if she and her husband could live there I certainly could give her a ride home. Anyways, I went to Milwaukee Public Schools, I can handle pretty much anything. She agreed to let me take her home. First I called the police to let them know what was happening and to let her talk to them so she felt more comfortable riding home with a complete stranger. Everything was OK and I drove her the ten miles home. On the way we chatted about different things, I don't remember exactly. I dropped her off at her apartment and went home. A few days later I got a Christmas card from the lady wishing my family a Merry Christmas. I know I didn't tell her my exact address, just the general location. What makes it hard to find my address is I live in one town but my mailing address is the next town over. I also have a very common name. This little old lady went the extra step and some how found my address. When I related the story to my in-laws the day after helping her all my father-n-law asked was how much did she paid me. I told him she paid me more than any amount of money when I dropped her off at her door and she said, "Thank you and god bless."

The second story was when my wife's pastor called one Saturay morning and said a parishioner who had two sets of season's tickets to the Milwaukee Brewers couldn't make it that day and wanted some one to use them. One set was of four and the other set had two seats. Our family is four people so I tried to find two other people who could go but I couldn't find any one. I went to the pastor's house to get the four tickets and told him I couldn't use the other two. He gave them to me anyways and told me to find some one. I got to be game time and still couldn't find anyone so we just took the extra two with us hoping to find someone at the stadium. As we walked up to the entrance of the stadium I saw a young guy with a little boys of maybe 5-6 who had a baseball glove on his hand. I watched the father for a few minutes. I could see his little boy was all fired up to see the game. I saw the father reach into his pocket and pull a couple of bills out and started for the ticket booth. I went up to him and offered the two tickets to him. He gave me a strange look and asked, "How much?". I told him the story and said there was no charge. I didn't know where any of the seats were located so when we got in and found our seats it turned out they were 5 or 6 rows along the 3rd base line. After were sitting a while I spotted the father and son. Theirs seats were closer to home plate in the next section over. You should have seen the look on that little boys face all during the game.

I'm not relating these stories to get an "atta boy", I just wanted to relate them because the feeling I get when I can help someone is all the payment I ever want. I've never really have gotten any real breaks that I can remember and some times I wonder why I should help someone out. Many times when I have helped someone out I usually end up with a flat tire or some other problem. You know the old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished", but when it comes time again to help someone out I hope I can be there to help. I may not get anything out of it but the feeling that I may have helped someone it a great feeling, I have never done drugs but I would guess that's the feeling of being high.

 

I have been lucky enough to be on the recieving end of kind deeds, it can be very humbling.
There are times that I'm a grumpy, sarcastic, grumbling idiot, but, I try to not take out my grumpiness on those around me. I try to be kind to those I encounter and to help when I can. As Bob mentioned, I have also helped stranded motorists, etc sometimes at my own expense. It all works out.

Its very inspiring to read these tales of good deeds, thanks for sharing
Bobby

 

I have been on both sides and it just tells you there are still people in this world to believe in. I have meet and became friends with so many people this way. What goes around comes around!!!!

 

All great stories, I have had some pretty good laughs out of some of these too!
bobj49f2: I agree with you, when I help someone I don't expect anything in return...unless it's moving or a roofing job!

bobbytnm: I can be pretty grumpy and negative,sacastic, etc. myself!

Great Stuff Folks!

 

Twenty years ago I was on duty a few days before Christmas working on a busy rescue in a rough neighborhood (we averaged around 20 calls in a 24 hour period) We got a call for a shooting. We got there fast and found a young male lying on the ground shot in the chest. He had tried to rob a man in front of his home who simply had walked out to retrieve this mail. There was a struggle and the homeowner got the gun away from the thug and shot him with his own gun. The young man was coughing up blood and saying I don't want to die and I can't believe he shot me. The call was a trauma alert so we stripped him of his clothes to check for multiple gunshots, treated him and loaded him on our Air Rescue helicopter for transport to the trauma center. When we started cleaning up the rescue, a handful of money fell out of his cut up pants. Money he probably got from stealing from someone else. The captain, in charge of the truck said I know what we can do with the money. We were driving away from the scene when we spotted a woman and her two children walking down the street. We stopped and called her over and handed her the cash. You should of seen the look on her face, total disbelief. She thanked us immensely with tears in her eyes.

 

When I got my first pickup, a '95 F-150, it was amazing how popular I became. I must have moved a dozen house holds and hauled numerous other loads for people. I especially dislike moving people. I have one second cousin I have I moved twice. Every time I showed up at her house she had everything packed and marked and provided good food. Every one else I'd show up at their house and the house looked like there was hardly a thing packed. We'd spend half the day helping pack and move from a second story duplex with old narrow winding stair to another second story duplex with narrow winding stairs. Over the years I made a note of who I help and some day when I finally moved I'd call in the debt. Well, the day came when I moved in with my wife and all I had was a stereo and a box of clothes.

 

Oh, don't get me started on how many times I've moved people....LOL, especially the sister in law

Bobby

 

I stopped counting how many people I've helped move... I've only had a couple that helped me move when I needed help, but that's ok... One good thing about growing older is everyone and their mother doesn't ask you to move them anymore...

 

Moe, wait until you retire, if you haven't already. I'm not ready for retirement yet, probably the ways things are going I will never retire, but anyways, I have worked with many retired guys who are busier after they retire than when they worked full time. Since they "don't work" they are constantly taking their relatives and friends of relatives to the doctors, running other errands during the day, making home repairs and babysitting grandchildren. I think some wish they were working agian so they could rest more.

 

Stuck in this econimic turn down... It's always been like that for me... I have have my mother, sister, daughter & aunt... the only man around I get "honey due" list from all of them... weather I'm working full time or not.... Wish I was working full time with overtime so a least I have more money in my pocket... and a good excuse for other things/

 

I will probably retire this June. (Will keep you posted) Guys who have retired before me have told me that retirees must learn to say "No". And do the deeds for people you really care about or for the ones that can't do it for themselves...

 

When I first started working on my 51 F-1 and joined this group, I posted questions about dash trim. Julie sent me a PM and offered spare trim pieces that were better than mine. Julie sent me the extra trim at no charge.

Last year a fellow FTE'r needed vent wing frames, so I offered mine for free as I was not going to use them (I am Going To Use One Piece Side Glass).

By the time I got them out of the doors and boxed them up for shipping, I was able to send them to him for around $10.

I sent them to him and told him not to worry about the shipping as I was just paying it forward.

Felt good to do something for someone else as Julie had done for me.

Thanks Julie

 

Yes....I have. I, also, received one of those packages from Classic Haulers....Mine had a very nice T-shirt compliments of another FTE member!!!

The other one happened three years ago in Colorado Springs....My wife and I took our kids (all 4 of them) out for a very nice dinner. Our three boys are in the Air Force & I guess it's pretty easy to tell from their hair styles (or maybe that's lack of hair styles). At some point during dinner, waiter asked us about it. Anyway, we really didn't hold back on dinner & had plenty of cocktails to go along. When it was time for the bill, the waiter said that another guest had covered our bill...to include the tip...and said that the guest wanted to remain anonymous. That was a nice suprise!! I guess when I think about it...I've always stopped to help people on the road...people in parking lots with dead batteries, and those stuck in the snow, or with a flat tire. Sometimes it just seems like the right thing to do. Since our family likes to go boating, we've also towed in our fair share of disabled boats. [/FONT]