Random acts of kindness

A rather overcast day, chance of showers, occasional sunny patches - thus endeth the weather report.
I was talking to one of the regulars who stores at the place where I work. If you met him in the street, you'd possibly think he was a homeless person. He has long hair and a beard. The clothes were new once, but that was a few decades ago. He is intelligent, perceptive and articulate. Age? My guess is early 60s, could be more or less - it's hard to say.
This guy is here every day. His unit is packed from floor to ceiling with stuff, with just enough room left for him to get in and out. I have seen units like this before at some of the other storage facilities I've worked at. The clients are serious hoarders, nothing can be thrown away. It might be useful one day ...
The first thing that struck me about this guy was the twinkle in his eye. I am getting to hear more of his story each time we meet, which is a nice way to find out about someone: slowly, a bit at a time. I now know that he was a serious surfie in the 1970s, spending a lot of time around Noosa. All day at the beach, then doing some dumb job like cleaning dishes from 6pm to midnight, then back at the surf the following morning. He would have been in his 20s/early 30s back then.
He told me a story yesterday which helps illustrate the qualities of the man. One of the trucks this company I work for uses had broken down, and the driver, unable to fix the problem, rang this guy and asked him to help. I found that quite amazing, keeping in mind that this man does not work for this company and is a customer here. But, that's what the driver did, because he knew that this bloke can fix things and would probably be available. It was on a weekend.
So, the guy gets the details and drives off in his truck to help. The spare is hard to get off, the truck has been forced to stop in a bad location (on a busy street, on a corner, sloping ground, and the flat is on the driver's side, so they have to work close to the traffic). This guy gets some timber from the nearby bush, levels out the jack, sprays the nuts (which have become frozen) with lubricant, and manages to get the job done.
The good news is that the driver bought this bloke a case of beer and the company, when they found out about it, gave him a month's free rent. A nice outcome all round.
This guy has a lot of stories, and I've heard some similar ones about him helping out some Chinese restaurant people with floor tiling, not asking for any payment, but then getting free meals whenever he's in the neighbourhood. I love these stories.
Random acts of kindness, done when a need is seen and then met, is one of the great things that anyone of us can do. Helping out someone in need, with no other thought than it's the right thing to do, is a fabulous quality that we humans have. Perhaps these acts stand out more to me because we live in a society of rugged individualists who spend most of their time looking out for themselves. It is a lovely thing to see people stepping out of their own minds to help someone else.
We have all heard the stories of people drowning while others looked on. Would I jump in to save them? I suspect I would. I can think of two instances where I might have saved someone's life - both of them those split-second reflex actions which you either make immediately, or stand there and think about it (by which time the person is probably dead). These were reactions, requiring no thought on my part. I just did it.
Hamlet would have understood perfectly: sometimes you can think about things too much ^_^
Stay well until next time, when I'll probably give an update on the progress with my new web site.
Oh crap, I almost forgot: happy birthday to my elder son, Jake, who is now 15, just about as tall as me, much better looking, and despite his father, doing very nicely thank you. Nice one, big guy!