Pay It Forward: Are You Open To The Reward?

Have you ever been offered food by a homeless person?

I get the concept of pay it forward and I’ve seen the movie. This time I experienced it first hand and was on the receiving end of the equation. 

I was on a work trip in Little Rock, AR. One evening I was walking back from dinner to my hotel. It was a chilly night in Fall. I decided to sit down next to a street musician sitting on a bench outside the restaurant.

The man shared his story of teaching himself to play guitar, building a community of musicians in Las Vegas, finding his passion for singing the Blues, and “white boxing it” (offering to play in exchange for the leftovers in people’s white boxes as they left restaurants). My heart went out to him. I decided to buy him a hamburger. While he ate it, he shared one of his cigarettes with me and strummed his favorite blues tunes.

We parted ways and he was grateful for the hot food. My heart was warm as I headed back to my hotel.

Less than two blocks down the street I approached a dark, silent shape on a park bench, covered with a blanket.

As I passed, a cheerful voiced piped up from under the blanket, “Hey, ya want some fish?”

“What are you doing giving food to strangers?”, I said, reacting with surprise. Without skipping a beat, a joyful face emerged from the blanket and responded, “Someone just gave me a meal of fried catfish. Do you want to share it with me?”

It was the tastiest, crispiest, most delicious hot fried catfish I’ve ever had on a cold November night on the street. And a most wonderful random act of kindness from a stranger who felt blessed and wanted to share.

Be open. Be receptive. Be grateful. Be blessed.

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