Mark Norman
05-09-2009, 10:52 AM
I live in the Sierra Nevada mountians about an hour drive from Yosemite National Park and I work about an hour in the opposite direction in Merced. I commute on the YARTS (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System) bus to work and back. It is intended as a tour bus that takes people into the park from the Merced and does double duty as a commuter bus for park employees and a few of us that commute in the opposite direction.
On my way home from work on the bus last night I met a guy by the name of Simon, a young lad that was here to visit the states from his home in Austria. We started chatting and he tells me he's just out of six month mandatory military school after completing high school and taking six weeks to tour our wonderful nation befor going to college. He speaks our language amazingly well. He has one week left to visit Yosemite and then off to New York for his final week before heading home. As it turns out, the bus does not go all the way into the park on this particular run so he was more or less stranded for the night. I ask if he is self contained i.e. tent and sleeping bag and replies of course. I offer him a place on my property to camp out for the night and he is grateful. I tell him I have to head back to Merced early in the morning and I could drop him off at the bus stop so he could continue his journey.
Well, I call home and ask my wife Lori what’s for dinner and if we have enough for one more plate. She says yeah sure, who ya bringing home? Just another tourist I tell her (I've done this a couple times before). We get to my home and I introduce him to my family including the big dogs who are excited to have the company. We chat for a while and my kids are showing off. James plays his ocarina and the organ and Randi plays a song on her clarinet for him. She has been practicing and is getting remarkably good. We all have a sit down dinner and talk a little about his culture as compared to ours while eating a wonderful chicken dinner. After which the kids challenge him to a game of bowling on the wi and they play while I sit at the computer and check my boards.
Well, I offer him a blanket and pillow and the use of our sofa so he wont have to set up his tent and have to take it down at 4:30 in the morning darkness. He is grateful and I send the kids off to bed and tuck em in. We chat for a little wile and 10:30 is upon us real soon so its time for bed.
I wake him this morning and we have a cup of coffee while I put me boots on. We talk a little more about world affairs as I drive him back to the bus stop. when we get there, as he is getting out of my pickup he asks "what do I owe you? as he reaches for his wallet. I tell him "nothing but your gratitude" He is pleased and takes his back pack from the bed of the truck. I hand him my business card and tell him he could send us a post card when he returns to Austria. He says with a smile "will do!"
It was a win-win situation, he got a place to stay and a hot meal when he was otherwise stranded many miles from home and my family gets not only his company but a taste of life in a foreign country half way across the world. My kids get to experience the rewards of kindness to others and I hope will learn a lesson of compassion from the whole deal. And he will take home one special memory of one humble little family nestled up in the Sierra Mountains, one he will likely remember for a long time.
I sincerely hope if more people all over the world would practice random acts of kindness such as this, it would not be long till the whole world could live in harmony. Fat chance you say, but I can hold onto hope.
I share this with you all not to get kudos or any sort of recognition but in hopes the next time you have a chance to be kind to someone else in a similar circumstance you just might think of my story of Simon and will lend a hand to another human being.
I hope you all have a wonderfull day today.
Mark
On my way home from work on the bus last night I met a guy by the name of Simon, a young lad that was here to visit the states from his home in Austria. We started chatting and he tells me he's just out of six month mandatory military school after completing high school and taking six weeks to tour our wonderful nation befor going to college. He speaks our language amazingly well. He has one week left to visit Yosemite and then off to New York for his final week before heading home. As it turns out, the bus does not go all the way into the park on this particular run so he was more or less stranded for the night. I ask if he is self contained i.e. tent and sleeping bag and replies of course. I offer him a place on my property to camp out for the night and he is grateful. I tell him I have to head back to Merced early in the morning and I could drop him off at the bus stop so he could continue his journey.
Well, I call home and ask my wife Lori what’s for dinner and if we have enough for one more plate. She says yeah sure, who ya bringing home? Just another tourist I tell her (I've done this a couple times before). We get to my home and I introduce him to my family including the big dogs who are excited to have the company. We chat for a while and my kids are showing off. James plays his ocarina and the organ and Randi plays a song on her clarinet for him. She has been practicing and is getting remarkably good. We all have a sit down dinner and talk a little about his culture as compared to ours while eating a wonderful chicken dinner. After which the kids challenge him to a game of bowling on the wi and they play while I sit at the computer and check my boards.
Well, I offer him a blanket and pillow and the use of our sofa so he wont have to set up his tent and have to take it down at 4:30 in the morning darkness. He is grateful and I send the kids off to bed and tuck em in. We chat for a little wile and 10:30 is upon us real soon so its time for bed.
I wake him this morning and we have a cup of coffee while I put me boots on. We talk a little more about world affairs as I drive him back to the bus stop. when we get there, as he is getting out of my pickup he asks "what do I owe you? as he reaches for his wallet. I tell him "nothing but your gratitude" He is pleased and takes his back pack from the bed of the truck. I hand him my business card and tell him he could send us a post card when he returns to Austria. He says with a smile "will do!"
It was a win-win situation, he got a place to stay and a hot meal when he was otherwise stranded many miles from home and my family gets not only his company but a taste of life in a foreign country half way across the world. My kids get to experience the rewards of kindness to others and I hope will learn a lesson of compassion from the whole deal. And he will take home one special memory of one humble little family nestled up in the Sierra Mountains, one he will likely remember for a long time.
I sincerely hope if more people all over the world would practice random acts of kindness such as this, it would not be long till the whole world could live in harmony. Fat chance you say, but I can hold onto hope.
I share this with you all not to get kudos or any sort of recognition but in hopes the next time you have a chance to be kind to someone else in a similar circumstance you just might think of my story of Simon and will lend a hand to another human being.
I hope you all have a wonderfull day today.
Mark