Fate or Karma?

There are some people who you meet for a moment and the impression lasts a lifetime. This week I met someone who only for a brief moment has touched my faith in humanity a bit more.

Last week as I was at work I met a guy named Robert who was stranded in our small city of Brockville. Without getting into his story, he had no where to go and was waiting on his credit card to come to the bank so he could get home.

He was sleeping at the back door of my work and as my wife came to meet me, she came around the corner and he scared the crap out of her. I have her the brief summary of what happened and she walked over and handed him the last $10 we had to our name. It was also raining pretty heavy, so as I get home my wife runs in and gets a blanket for him.

Jump ahead to the next day and he was so thankful and was able to get a bite to eat and a hot cup of coffee. He wandered our small town and was just so amazed that the history we have here. I'd see him a few times over the weekend and we swapped numbers. When we saw him we'd give him water, snacks and food I was given from work. He was always so humble.

Being as I was homeless at some points in my life, I knew what it was like to have nothing and he was just as greatful for having someone care in a strange city.

Tuesday I was texting with Robert and he was talking about waiting on his credit card that he hoped came, but didn't. He was stuck in town for another night. On Wednesday I went looking for him and had a made sure that I had food for him and a proposition for him and I'm wouldn't take no for an answer.

The weather was hot, (about 35c with the humidity) and muggy and just all around crappy, we took him in. We gave him a dry place to sleep, a couch, we did his laundry for him. But the thing he was most grateful for was the shower. We wanted to show him that no matter how bad life can get, there is always a light of hope.

On Thursday morning my wife made him a breakfast of a king. He again told us we were to nice and that he hoped his credit card came in. Well he showed up at my work a few hours after I dropped him off and had the biggest smile on his face, his card came in. He tried to give me money and I told him all he owed me was a coffee, to which he gladly agreed to get.

At 8pm Robert was on his last leg of this crazy journey. We meet him to see him off and he hugged me and we said our "see you laters". On the bus he texts me and says

"It's the strangest feeling though. I'm happy and sad at the same time. Maybe I need to get a job there for awhile. Once I get back to my car I'll have to do some soul searching. I know there' s a reason I ended up there but  figuring out the answer is the difficult part."

He's home now and I'm glad to say that because of my past, a chance meeting and what some believe is fate he has a new outlook on life and I have some motivation to do something great.