Life Can Be Generous
…if we make it so.
“I will only ask you to do the same when you run into someone sad, cheer the life and be generous to anyone who needs it.”
(Omar Santamaria in “Juan”.)
“Juan” was one of the first stories I read here at Medium. I was reminded of another story, a real one, told by a friend a long time ago. That is what I came here to share.
This will require a little background. Please, bear with me.
Before cell phones even existed in Brazil, we relied on public phone booths to call people when we were out on the street.
Public phones did not take coins, they took round metal tokens (see picture), somewhat like the tokens used in old-time arcade machines.
Each phone token would give three minutes for local calls and we could insert a few tokens at once to speak longer. When call time was about to run out, there was a tone and we’d have to insert another token to continue talking. Tokens were not very expensive, but they didn’t last long. A guy calling a girl “just to chat” could easily spend what was a lot of money for us back then in a single call. Those public phones are still around, but phone tokens have been replaced by magnetic cards now. But my friend’s story starts with one of these phone tokens going down during a call.
So, Here’s the Story
My friend (I’ll call him Leo, here, I’m sure he won’t mind) was on a public phone setting a date with his girlfriend (his wife, now) and he heard his last token go down. There he was, about to have his call cut before ending his arrangements and saying goodbye in a proper manner. He saw a guy standing behind him.
I know, standing in line to make a phone call sounds crazy in the age of mobile phones, but that’s the way it was, back then.
Leo looked at the guy and, with gestures, asked for a spare token, so he could finish his call.
That was not uncommon, although most people didn’t really like to lend tokens in that specific situation, because it meant it would take even longer for you to use the phone.
The guy handed Leo a token. Leo finished his call, as quickly as he could. The least you can do when someone helps you is not to make them wait longer than strictly necessary). After hanging up, Leo reached for his wallet to pay the nice guy for the token. The guy smiled and said: “You don’t need to pay me back, I have been in this situation before. Instead, you can pay me by helping out when somebody needs a spare token.”
And that is it. Plain and simple.
My Takeaway
I heard this story not long after it happened. It is very simple, but I feel it carries a deeper meaning that goes far beyond giving someone a phone token.
Can you imagine a world in which people just helped other people without expecting anything immediately in return, except that the person they helped would, within their possibilities, help other people when there was the opportunity?
I see this as taking the opportunity to spread the good within our reach, just doing what we can at the given moment.
There’s no way everyone would not eventually get some good in return. More than that, we’d probably get help when it was more necessary than when we helped out.
Even from a strictly selfish standpoint, this has to look like a good investment.
More that that, we would be living in a world were more people would be willing to help others, within their possibilities. I know, these will probably never be all people, maybe they will not even be most people, but they will be an ever growing number.
For a moment, let us forget about bad politicians, wild capitalism and oppressive social systems. Forget about them, as in “they must do something about this”. This is a small change we can make by ourselves to make the world a little better.
Everyone com spread the good. Even a kind word will be better than nothing. Sometimes a kind word is all someone needs.
Something I Must Confess Now
I have an agenda.
I hope this story does not end here. For me, this story started in college, when I heard it, over twenty years ago. When I read Omar Santamaria’s story, I was reminded of this real story and I felt it could be meaningful to share it.
I have no idea how this started for the guy who gave my friend the token or if there was a chain of other people doing the same before him. I believe it’s a good thing. Even better, it is simple. Better, still, it works.
I came to realize that it doesn’t matter where good things start, what matters is to share them and keep spreading them.
Showing some care for people, providing a kind word, or just being silently sympathetic does not have a tangible cost, but it can certainly bring tangible benefits.
