Sunrise Surprise

I must have looked like hell.

Six days on the road, no shave, a few showers and a lot of miles. But I was surprised while walking between two villages when a young couple stopped and greeted me with warm smiles.

They didn’t have a lot, less than I was carrying on my back I would guess, but they stopped anyway.

They asked if I was OK. They asked where I was going? And how I was getting there? I happily answered all their thoughtful questions, yet the last one shocked me for all the right reasons.

They looked at me with a sense of pity, exclaiming, “that there is a local bus, it’s yellow, it’s very cheap.” I replied, “thank you, but I am going to walk.” To which they replied, “if you can’t afford it, we can pay for you,” and that just made me smile.

There are people with so little who are willing to give so much. Yet it made me think when was the last time I did what this young couple had just done for me—offering help without wanting anything in return.

And embarrassingly so, I honestly could not remember. 

I can do better. 

We can do better.