As I sat waiting for my wife to finish shopping at the local Walgreens in Tampa, a refreshing ocean breeze flowed through the car. The sound of rustling palm branches like a lullaby, sang me to sleep.
Suddenly, I'm startled back to reality by the sound of laughter. I was so relaxed I never even noticed the young man sitting against one of the columns in front of the store. But the laughter wasn't emanating from him. He didn't appear to have any reason to be laughing. His appearance was that of a man that was obviously homeless and had just walked out of the forest behind the store. He was fairly dirty, shaggy hair and his face showed much distress and frustration. He sat only about ten feet from the front of my car. So close I could actually see tears beginning to come from his eyes. I watched as he began to remove his wet tennis shoes and socks. He sat both shoes on the hot blacktop next to him and began ringing out his wet and tattered socks. He then removed a rag from his backpack and began drying his feet.
I watched as an older couple exited the store chatting and laughing about something unknown. They passed by the young man as though he were invisible. Then I saw the older man stop abruptly about five or six steps passed the young man. He paused, looked back, then motioned his wife on to their car. He then returned to where the young man was, got down on one knee and began talking to him. They were so close I couldn't help overhearing the conversation. The older man placed his hand on the young man's shoulder and asked if there was any way he might help. The young man answered, "My socks are wet and worn. I have blisters on my feet." The older man responded, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."
I watched as he disappeared inside the store. He returned about ten minutes later handing the young man a bag. He said, "You will find in this bag an antibiotic cream, a box of Band-Aids, some energy bars and drinks." The older man then asked the younger one something I could not hear due to a passing truck nearby. But I soon figured out what the question was. The young man nodded an obvious yes to the question. What I saw next was probably one of the most selfless acts of kindness I would ever witness. The older man sat down next to the young man and began to remove his shoes and socks. I saw him attempt to hand them to this man. I listened as the young man said while gently pushing back the shoes, "I am sincerely grateful for your kindness sir, but my shoes will be fine after they have dried in the sun. My socks as you can see are worn through and are the cause of my blisters, so I very much appreciate what you have done." I watched as he doctored his feet and put the socks on and noticed him cast a smile at the other man. The older gentleman put his sockless feet back in his shoes, gave a gentle squeeze to the young man's shoulder, stood and said, "God bless you brother. You will be in my prayers." He then got in his car and drove off.


The Waterfall Poet
© 06/05/2024