So easy to do a good deed (July 24, 2008)

Current mood: happy

Twice in two weeks, I reunited a lost item with its owner. All I had to do were: (a) Pay attention, (b) Go slightly out of my way, (c) Follow through.

Yesterday, I was driving down Perry Highway on a string of errands when I saw a whole bunch of papers flying around. All 8.5x11 office paper. As I pulled up to the next light, which was red, I saw a portfolio lying in the street. Since traffic was clear, I jumped out, grabbed it and a few papers, and jumped back in the car since the light changed. I pulled into a parking space, checked quickly for a phone number or a business card, found none, so went into the store I was in front of to complete my first errand. Coming out of the store, I looked a little harder for some identifying papers, and finding a business card that seemed to match, called the number. Yes, the man who answered had just discovered the portfolio missing, and was already on his way back to retrieve it. I described my exact location, and set about picking up more of the paper still flying around. In two minutes, he had his portfolio back. The whole affair took maybe five extra minutes.

Last week, I was bicycling into Downtown, when I spotted a small address book by the side of the road. It had not been there long. Upon arriving home later, I called the owner, who had conveniently put her name in the front. Meeting up physically was not going to be as easy, so I just popped it in the mail. What's 80 cents postage, really? I can recover that cost just by walking through a couple of parking lots and picking up loose change.

It really does not require much to help your fellow man, even if you do get a nasty horn from behind when the light turns green and you're retrieving something in the street.