SMILE by Steve

Old Good Samaritan 

seeks to thank a younger member of the same tribe 

for return of his wallet.

This 68-year-old white haired man had stopped by for his regular Gray's Papaya at 72nd and Broadway. As usual he carried his treat to nearby Verdi Square Park. He then went to Trader Joes only to discover he had misplaced his wallet.  He quickly retraced his steps to his park bench and then to Grays. No luck. He told people that whenever he found something of value he tracks the owner down and returns it.  He hoped the same might happen to me. The looks were polite but skeptical. 

He returned to his home close to Zabars on West 80th St. where he was meeting a friend. The elevator man said he had an attractive female visitor. "That does not describe my friend." When I got off the elevator a very attractive young brown skinned woman asked me my name. I gave the right answer. My wallet had beaten me home. 

I was overjoyed. I told her of a widening practice of mine of telling people to return kindness, large or small, to a "stranger down the road.  What goes around, comes around." 

She said maybe some would come her way.  This is where my haste betrayed me. She had given her first name. I was not familiar with the name. I should have asked her to give me her name or call me later so I could return her help to me in some more substantial way.

The city has a lost and found service. Call the 20th precinct, give your name and number and I will call. I've left out enough details so I'll know if a call is real.

A few years ago, I found a lonely $100 bill on the floor of the West Side Market.  How was I supposed to find the owner?  My thinking was slowed by the temptation to keep it.

Then I walked through the market asking in a slightly raised voice, "Did anyone drop something?" "A couple of wise guys asked if it was a $20. When I got to check-out a woman was frantically looking through her purse. She had the right answer. She was a housekeeper whose employer had given her the money to buy groceries.  That was a sweet one. 

So please do not call if you're not the right person. I'll know and your name will go on a different list.

Recently a small exercise of this practice gave me a once in a lifetime reward.  I was having a coffee and a smoke on a stoop.  A man approached and said I would not remember him, but he would never forget me.  A few years before he had been way down on his luck -drinking, drugs, jail. He'd asked me for a dollar and I'd given it.  To his thanks, I'd replied, as is my practice, When you get the chance just return it to a stranger and never underestimate the value of your smile."

He told me, "It wasn't the dollar. It was the part about the smile. That changed my life. I'd been a licensed electrician. I got things together a bit/. I heard (a large, semi-public employer) needed electricians. I went to the boss, showed him my papers, and told him about where I was coming from. And I told him about you.  The boss said, Well, I'll know in an hour or two days if you can do the job, so let's get the work.  I've been working there since.  

"Pretty often if the weather's nice I walk uptown to home. It saves a little money, gives me a little exercise and there's nice coffee places through here. But I've also been looking for you.  I knew I'd see you some day. So never underestimate the value of your smile."