I got up this morning with hope in my heart and an eagerness to serve my community. However, this hope was not to aid the community, but rather to muster enough courage to follow through with a helpful act.

The thought of helping others brings me immense satisfaction. But then again, it usually remains just a thought. Recently, I nearly helped someone in genuine need. I waited at an intersection on the way home from a local Safeway, with groceries in the back seat. A man with an unkempt appearance stood on the median, leaning against a road sign. He seemed kind enough, with a plea on a cardboard poster ending in “God bless you.” I considered rolling down my driver’s window and delivering to him the entirety of my groceries. It truly moved me to see his imagined reaction. I became so immersed in this false reality that I failed to notice that the light had turned green and that other drivers were honking and angrily attempting to circumnavigate the Prius-barricade. My mind refocused on my immediate requirement: to get home and unpack my groceries. But the man would remain there, stoic and unfazed by the others’ ignorance of him, already passed by well over one thousand cars prior to when I, too, passed him by.