I do, I do believe
Ok, so the past few weeks have been tough for me -- a car accident (complete with a totaled car and stitches), a son with strep, a dog with pink eye, two inches of standing sewage in the basement, a grandmother in the hospital -- you get the picture, right? I'm generally an optimist, someone who can find the bright side of things. But it's been cloudy for several, several days. I've even considered making my own Earl list, so that I could find some way to improve my karma.
That's why today's Secret Santa story in the Kansas City Star really caught my attention. Growing up in Warrensburg, I often heard about this guy who would go to laundries and thrift stores and other similar places during the holidays to distribute thousands of dollars to people in need. What I guy, I thought, to do without seeking credit. No one knew his name.
Sadly, Secret Santa has cancer, which he's fighting, but this will likely be his last sleigh ride. He instead wants to talk to organizations about random acts of kindness. His story is touching, but if you don't read it all, at least know this:
He began working as a salesman. He was doing OK. But in the winter of 1971, the company stopped sending his paychecks. It was out of business. He couldn’t pay for his motel room in Houston, Miss. The young man slept in his car for eight nights. After two days without food he walked into a cafe, the Dixie Diner, and ordered breakfast. When it came time to pay, he faked it, acted as if he’d lost his wallet.The diner owner came from behind the counter and bent toward the floor as if to pick something up. “You must have dropped this,” the owner said, slipping a $20 bill into the young man’s hand.
The young man quickly paid, pushed his car to the gas station, and left town. The kindness of this stranger moved him. He vowed to help others, when he could.
What does Secret Santa have to do with UMR research? Nothing, really. UMR does have several classes and organizations -- like Dr. Curt Elmore's International Groundwater Studies course or Engineers Without Borders -- that give a student the chance to be someone's hero. Why do the students give up their vacations to help others? Elmore once explained it to me like this: "Helping others is part of the engineering profession. A lot of people want to be engineers because we want to try to make our mark in society and culture."
Here's to you, Secret Santa and anyone else who gives people a hand up. And thanks for parting the clouds. I think I see the sun.
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