There but for grace...

This afternoon at work, a customer came over to me and asked me to come and look out the window.

Staggering along the verge between the parking lot and the road was a man. The customer told me he'd seen the man fall. The poor fellow was carrying three huge bundles-- maybe a tent, an oversize backpack and something else I couldn't identify. He kept dropping one or the other, and he looked like he'd fall over again at any minute. The heat was as brutal today as it's been for the last month.

The customer told me he'd seen the man fall in the ditch and was laying down for a while before he got up. I asked him to go and speak to a manager, as I couldn't leave my area. He spoke to L., and she went out to see about it. She took some water, and I observed them briefly talking before I had to get back to my register and wait on customers.

L. told me afterwards that the poor fellow was homeless. He'd slept outside last night, but he was looking for a church or someplace where he could stay the night and maybe get a meal. The customer who first voiced his concern put the homeless man and all his gear in his truck, and was going to take him to a church he thought could help the poor guy.

All I could think about was that I was glad that he hadn't had a heat stroke or anything, and that I hoped he'd be OK. And I wish I'd had a chance to tell the Good Samaritan customer what I thought about him, because he might have saved that man's life.

Too many people are so close to being in the same boat as that poor man.

There but for grace...

This afternoon at work, a customer came over to me and asked me to come and look out the window.

Staggering along the verge between the parking lot and the road was a man. The customer told me he'd seen the man fall. The poor fellow was carrying three huge bundles-- maybe a tent, an oversize backpack and something else I couldn't identify. He kept dropping one or the other, and he looked like he'd fall over again at any minute. The heat was as brutal today as it's been for the last month.

The customer told me he'd seen the man fall in the ditch and was laying down for a while before he got up. I asked him to go and speak to a manager, as I couldn't leave my area. He spoke to L., and she went out to see about it. She took some water, and I observed them briefly talking before I had to get back to my register and wait on customers.

L. told me afterwards that the poor fellow was homeless. He'd slept outside last night, but he was looking for a church or someplace where he could stay the night and maybe get a meal. The customer who first voiced his concern put the homeless man and all his gear in his truck, and was going to take him to a church he thought could help the poor guy.

All I could think about was that I was glad that he hadn't had a heat stroke or anything, and that I hoped he'd be OK. And I wish I'd had a chance to tell the Good Samaritan customer what I thought about him, because he might have saved that man's life.

Too many people are so close to being in the same boat as that poor man.