I met a girl today. I was sitting on a wall in front of my apartment complex waiting for an Uber to take me to an appointment at the local VA hospital. I've been ill for quite a while due to various causes. I was bemoaning my fate.
I looked down the hill and saw this girl, an itty-bitty, pushing a cart loaded to the brim with sundry boxes and clothes up the sidewalk toward me. The walkway isn't very wide, so I got up to move out of the way. She stopped momentarily, and said something I couldn't quite hear, being somewhat deaf in my right ear. Also, as befitted her size, her voice was small.
I asked where she was going with all that stuff to which she replied that she was taking it to some homeless friends who she figured needed it more than she did. I asked where she was going, and she told me. I knew that it was a good 3 or more miles over chiefly uphill terrain. I asked how far she had come. That distance was approximately the same.
She informed me that the bus wouldn't let her get on owing to the size of the cart. I supposed she didn’t have enough money for cab fare.
She started talking about one of the boxes, but because of her quiet, almost child-like voice and the traffic rushing by, I lost most of what she was saying. She was beginning to pull it out to open it when my Uber pulled up. I told her I was sorry but I had to go.
Then, I did something I rarely do, not possessing the credentials to do so. I said, "Bless you." and with that, I got into the Uber.
On the way I told the driver about her. When we arrived I told him that I would give him 20 dollars to go back and get her, but he said he couldn't because he already had another fare booked, and that was that.
Sometime later during the day a thought hit me. It hit me like a hammer to my face. I assure you, I'm a tough old coot, but I cried.
I had met one. A holy. A pure. An unknown, unrecognized saint, somehow formed into undiluted spiritual love. This one could never be blessed by me or anyone. I realized that I, myself, had been the one that had been blessed. On some ethereal level I think that I have somehow become reborn this day.
"Lady, I'll probably never know who you are, I'll never see you again, at least, not in this life. But because of about 3 minutes on a chilly January morn, I'll never forget you or what you revealed to me."
They're out there. They walk quietly among us. Search for them.
Believe me. They can bring a big man to his knees.