My house, which I found out was once a candy store :3, is located on a very busy corner. I have route 17, which is a busy and annoying highway, an airport, train station and the city just over the hudson down the road. To top it off there's hundreds of annoying, impatient driver's that go up and down the road constantly. It's a nice neighborhood, nothing I'm quite used to yet. Suprisingly, the people here are very decent and I enjoy the company.
Where I was from people looked down at you like you were scum they just scraped off the bottom of their shoes. They weren't decent or nice people. Most of them, basically. I like to think of myself as a nice and caring person - I'll help you with about anything I can. I've played pyschologist and have been the secret keeper of all my friends. In general, I do things that most people look over. You know when you do a good thing and it hits home? You feel good for the rest of the day?
I don't understand why doing something good or extrordinary for other people is the only way to get that high. Why can't people just be happy and cheerful like that all the time? It's a short and sweet story that happened today, but it got me thinking. Do things really come back at you when you do something good? My Aunt always does a toy collection for sick children that are hospital bound every year in memory of her third child, Christopher.
One of the years I had to stay with her, alone, because my father was in the hospital. He had had multiple strokes on Halloween of '07. Luckily, he's perfectly fine today. I thank whatever God there is for it all the time. Yet, that special year when she brought the toys down, I asked to join her. The looks on their faces were remarkable. Knowing their Christmas was going to be happy and filled with toys. I didn't care about my picture in the paper or the thank you's I got from the staff.
I cared about the children, as sappy as that may sound. The next day, when I was getting ready to see my dad, he came home. No one knew when he would be home for sure, but one solid week later of seeing no one out of my immediate family, he pulled up in the car. Was I rewarded my father back because I took the time out of my life to make even just one young child happy? Now back on today, I was in my room, getting ready to light some of my brand new candles I had gotten.
My windows were open, hence the nice weather, and I started to hear yelling. I looked out my window and found an older woman shouting. I thought maybe her child ran further up and she wanted them to slow down. I turned away, thinking she was okay, when she started screaming. When I looked back out the window, she was heading into our backyard, rather quickly. On the other side of my back yard is the main road and that did it for me. I ran out the front door, ignoring my parents calling after me.
I can admit that I learned how to fly down a set of stairs rather quickly. When I got outside, she was screaming louder. It sent the worst chills down my spine that I could imagine. I saw her running across the street and I thought that was it. I thought her "child" had been hit by a car. As I ran down the sidewalk, I saw something tan and small running across the street again, heading toward one of the house. Turns out it was her little dog that had gotten out.
Despite the fact that it wasn't her little kid in danger, I decided to help her out so her dog wouldn't get hit. And like the animal lover I am, I ran a whole fucking block for this thing. We eventually caught it and I recieved multiple thank yous. After helping this woman catch her ten pound ankle biter, I felt really happy for her. I didn't know if it was because I knew she got her baby safe and sound, or knowing that I (and one kid who came a second too late) were the only ones to help her.
If it were me, I'd want all the help in the world to get my pet or kid back. Once I met up with my parents, who ran after me a few seconds after I disappeared, I had found out that a legal case we had been working on for almost four years is finally ending. Next week we will be able to recieve our check and finally know what it feels like not to ration our money just to afford a gallon of milk. We'll be able to get a car and not have to walk everywhere we have to go.
It was like we were rewarded, even a few minutes after the small event, because I helped this woman. I'm not saying help people out and expect things in return. I've learned, upon many occasions, not to expect anything at all when you do something appropriate in the right time. It's just something that sunk into my head and I had to write about it. If people were just a little nicer and went out of their way to drop that dollar bill in a homeless persons can, or took the time to help an elderly person with their bags, that this world would be just that much easier to deal with.
That's the end of my little happy rant, for now, but I know that at least one of you will have the same thought stuck in your head when you're done reading this. It's not that hard to push aside a few minutes a day to help someone, even if you just have to sit there and listen to them. Sit there and be their shoulder to cry on. It's not that hard - trust me.
;;Amanda
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