Twin Generosity

One late afternoon when I was rushing to get back home, I was so eager to ride the train and see my kids who were left by themselves in the house. When I alighted the train, I saw a young man, carefully holding the arm of his old and frail grandfather. They were trying to use the stairs but I told them to use the elevator so that going down would be easier.

When we were at the elevator, I asked the young man where he and his grandfather would be going, and he replied that the old man was not his grandfather. Turns out that he apparently just so happened to see the old man in the train, and asked him why he had nobody to assist him. Out of pity to the old man, he accompanied him to get off the train.

Out of the young man’s own generosity he tried to accompany the old man to get him to the place where he wanted to be. It was really a nice experience to see a young gentleman accompanying older ones and I was really touched by this young fellow’s generosity to the old man.

When I was about to leave them, I asked the young man where the old man would like to go, and then the old man told us that he was going to visit an Office to claim his retirement payment. I got confused because the office he was going to visit would not entertain him. It was due to their procedure which had the office personnel themselves be the ones who would visit the elderly’s house and deliver him his benefits, since he was already too old.

I explained to the old man that he need not go to the office as he would not be entertained there. But the old man was so persistent that it became hard for the young man to decide on what to do. He could not leave the old man in that situation. I asked the old man if he had any children who look after him and if he knew of any number where he could connect with them. At first, he was hesitant to trust me, but I introduced myself to him and he showed us a few papers and some identification documents.

We tried to contact the persons who might be responsible for him. We were able to contact his daughter and she told us that they never knew their father had left unattended until we called up. She got increasingly nervous during the call and became eager to know where her father was, thus, she asked us as to tell her where we were so that she could come get him to go back home.

The father was furious, he really wanted to go to the office, so I told the young man accompanying him to bring the old man to the office and leave him with the security guard there. That way his daughter can simply go fetch him from there and take him back with her. The old man would be able to fulfill his desire to see the office, and his daughter would be able to find him easily, a win-win situation.

The young man felt a great relief as I instructed him on what he was going to do. He was really in need of his own time as he was called by his supervisor to report for work, yet he could not set aside his compassion for the old man. I was really rushing home to tend to my kids, being a solo parent, my time was really more precious than gold, but seeing these two lost gentlemen, I could not let them pass by.

As we were moving towards another train where the two men would ride, the old man held my hand and in teary eyes he told me how thankful he was to me for the time I spent explaining to him the procedure of his retirement and for calling his daughter to fetch him. He admitted that he really did not know how he could go to the office and how he could get back home. He knew how his act terrified his daughter and he really showed deep regret for what he did. I embraced the old man and told him that he should not thank me, instead he should thank the gentleman who brought him out of the train, it was the kindness of this man that inspired me to help him.

These days when young men rush, this rare gentleman took the courage to stop and care.