The Gift in Giving is Good

I had a rather odd thing happen the other night, but turned it into an opportunity to give, which is good. My family decided to go out to dinner to a very nice buffet (sounds like an oxymoron) because truth be known, most buffets aren’t that great. Anyway, image there is one that is very good and I can say that because we ate there at $30 per meal and the line to wait to be seated was about an hour long.

We invited one of our children’s friends to join us and strategized how to beat or minimize the 1 hour wait by having a few people of which one was me arrive fifteen minutes before they open and do the waiting for everyone else. So we finally made it to the cashier and it wasn’t really welcomed that all of our party wasn’t there and I wanted to pay for them so they could join us upon arrival, but we got it worked out by the grace of G-d anyway.

There was just one little catch, if we pay for others, there are no refunds if someone doesn’t happen to show up. And guess what, that’s exactly what happened. By a freak of nature, our friend’s home lost power to half of it causing the washer and dryer to stop working making her clothes too wet to wear and with nothing else to facilitate a night out she worked by using power from the other side of the home that was still working to blow dry her clothes. This wasn’t exactly going to work well because we were under a time constraint imposed by the restaurant and let’s face it, how long can anyone wait at a buffet after eating for someone else to show? In addition, other plans had been made for later in the evening.

Here’s where the magic happened. We decided to give the meal away because we couldn’t use it and we couldn’t get a refund or credit for the unused meal. So I went to the long line where people were waiting to pay and get seated for the buffet and asked if anyone was eating with a party of one and a man just a few feet away acknowledged. I asked if he would like a free meal tonight and he concurred.

He sat down and ate with us and we had the best time getting to know him and us sharing about ourselves. It was a blast and we felt so good because G-d hooked us up with just the right person who was a hard worker and a good man to his family and in contributing to his community in the service he rendered to make his livelihood. It was a remarkable evening that we won’t soon forget.

I said to him as I’ve said other times, if everyone did a nice turn to someone daily, we’d have a very different world and most likely a world without war and instead complete peace as we serve others much better than we do today. It’s a shame that’s not the way the world works, but the truth is it could.

The next time you have an opportunity to give, take it. You’ll feel so good and who knows, it just may be the best thing you’ve done for a while.

Until next week,

Kevin