Homeless Woman Or An Angel*

Here is a “Little Things Can Be Big Things” true story.  It’s the first of several that I promised to send in the last post.

This one is a true story about a stockbroker/financial advisor and a homeless woman, that took place about twenty plus years ago.

Everyday a stockbroker, while walking from his office to the garage to get his car and go home, passed several homeless people looking for handouts. Sometimes he gave whatever change was in his pocket and sometimes he didn’t. He noticed that if the stock market had a bad day, he felt better when he gave. If the market had a good day, he felt even better when he gave.

One day he passed a woman seated on the ground on a blanket. For some reason she moved him more than all the others he had passed. He gave her some money and her “G-d bless you” and “thank you” seemed extra warm to him.  This really moved him and he thought about what he could do.

He didn’t like to carry change, so when he got home any change in his pocket he put away in a bag. That way, when he got dressed the next day he wouldn’t have any change to put in his pocket.

He thought about his bag of change at home, and promised himself to grab a handful every morning when he got dressed, to give that day.  It was usually a dollar something or more. He realized that if it sat in a bag it didn’t really mean much to him, but it would to someone else. That made his bag of change that didn’t mean much, mean a lot.

For the next several weeks, on his way to the garage that same woman was there and he gave her his handful. After a couple of days, he began to stop and talk to her for a moment. First they exchanged names. Then he asked about her situation and she asked about him. She had several debilitating physical ailments and she also did volunteer work at the homeless shelter that she stayed in.

One day she wasn’t there. For several weeks he didn’t see her and he wondered what had happened to her. While walking a couple of blocks east of his get to the garage route during lunch one day, he saw her. He went up to her and asked where she had been, how she was, and told her that he was worried about her. She said she had been hospitalized and was better now. She had moved spots because someone else took hers, she explained. She told him she missed him and how much she looked forward to his daily visits. He was very touched. He quickly approximated how much he might have given her had she been at the usual spot, and he reached in his pocket for bills and gave it to her.

He promised himself that he would walk those extra couple of blocks on his way to the garage everyday just to see her and give her the handful. This went on for a few months.

One day she said “You have no idea how much this means to me”. He was embarrassed, thinking to himself this is not a lot of money, walking here is easy, and I can give and do more. Grasping for words he mumbled “It’s not really a big deal”. She said to him “To me, it’s a very big deal that you come to see me every day”. He reflected on that thought for a long time and never forgot it.

Whatever our situation is, what matters most to us, is to know that we matter to someone. We matter to someone when we show someone that they matter.

She wasn’t there the next day, and the next day… she was gone and he never saw her again. Everyone that comes into our life , comes into it for a reason. His angel had come and taught him to reach further into his true giving self /soul and then she was gone.

Heart and Soul

*An “Oldie But Goodie” updated