Heart of Gold
Numerous kinds of stories pour through media daily about the hurricane. My personal favourites are the ones about random acts of kindness, and strangers helping other strangers in need. That's what humanity is all about, and it brings me much encouragement and inspiration.I came across one particular story yesterday via the local news station that I feel the urge to blog about, one which you might have already heard of. Authorities are currently trying to evacuate the last of the hurricane victims in New Orleans, those who have refused to leave, those who thought they could continue to 'ride it out'. This has been a tough job on the authorities because they have to persuade these people to leave, if not, they have to force them to get out.
One particular man who didn't leave actually ended up being a blessing to the police and rescuers. This man kept his used tire shop open to help replace tires of the police cars and other rescue vehicles because one constant problem they kept experiencing was having punctured tires from driving on roads filled with debris and such. Since the policemen didn't have money to pay him, he just had them sign a book for I.O.Us and will have them settle the bill later on. They tried to offer him gas in return (which is currently such a huge commodity), but he refused to take anything. His mission was to continue helping them so that in return they could do their jobs. He also had 2 other guys working with him, and he was paying their salaries out of his own pocket. He said his pocket was "deep enough".
I call him the man with the heart of gold. His generosity and kindness speak loudly through his actions. He clearly didn't have much left after the storm, except for his hole-in-the-wall tire shop. And even that, he didn't expect to be paid or given anything. All he wanted to do was to help those who were there to help others. It is hearing about people like him during this tough time that makes me shed a tear of joy or two, and that inspires me to be a servant to others. It is like Jesus coming to life all over again.
*On a side note, the softball game last night was so much fun even though we lost. But no worries, we still have time to catch up because we are a team with much potential. =) I played despite my sickness, and in the process also got hit by the ball twice: once directly on my right big toe, and the other on my left wrist. I'll get over them.*
That is a really cool story. So I have a question---Josue left a link on his blog to these pictures of the storm and its aftermath. I looked at a lot of them----are they taken by your friend's father (the photographer)?
Posted by
Sarah |
Monday, September 12, 2005 4:03:00 PM
Sarah, he just directed everyone to a link at www.nola.com . Look out specifically for pictures taken by "Ted Jackson". He's got quite a few on there.
Posted by
Malaysian Debster |
Monday, September 12, 2005 5:19:00 PM