At the end of the meeting, a man walked in. He was supposed to be at our meeting, but he was taking care of an important issue. His shirt was soaking wet, and sweat was rolling down his face. His legs were splattered with mud, as were his arms. His shoes and socks were also splattered with mud. The gentleman running the meeting welcomed the man with a serious question: “Would you like to go take a shower before we head out to the site?” The man replied as he wiped the sweat from his brow, “No, thank you, I will be fine.” Of course, I added to the conversation, “It looks like you already took a shower!” to which laughter broke out.

As I introduced myself to Jeff, I extended my hand, but he pulled back, indicating his hands were covered in who knows what. I pressed on and shook his hand, having a nice starter conversation to learn about him, his title and capacity, and the topic we were discussing.

As I moved to speak to another man, the tables and chairs we were using in the shared room were slowly being put away by others. The administrative assistant was helping, but she got pulled in another direction to help someone else. Then I looked over and saw Jeff taking the folding chairs and leaning them against the wall. The administrative assistant rushed over. “Oh, thank you so much, Jeff! You didn’t have to do that.” Jeff was happy to help.

Here was a man who came into the meeting late, covered in dirt and grime, sweating profusely, and obviously needing a break. What did he do instead? He made a kind gesture to help someone.

I don’t know much about Jeff. What I do know is that this man is a hard worker with a kind heart, who exudes what we talk about here at Give Your Story:

HOPE. Hope that we can all take the time to do a kind gesture regardless of ourselves.

My hat is off to you, Jeff!