h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just when you think you can count on people, in general, to be self-serving, self-centered idiots who don't really care about anybody else...

There's this woman I used to work with, named Linda. I USED to work with her because she was forced to give up her job after having missed three months following hip replacement surgery with lost of post-operative complications and a host of related medical problems. Basically, she had trouble moving, let alone workig, for over six months and has now been unable to find work for another six months. So, she's been out of work for about a year now. There are reasons why she can't get governmental disability payments, which aren't relevant to this.

So, I've maintained a bit of a friendship with her, and learned that she was in imminent danger of being evicted from her apartment due to non-payment of rent, due to non-presence of money. She still had the place because she was able to scrape together a bit of her past due rent money and get it to her landlord. Of course, that meant that she didn't have money for her medicines.

I figured that 1) if she didn't have money for medicine, she probebly didn't have money for food and 2) she could use a bit of a morale boost and 3) both of these situations could be resolved if I collected cash donations from other people who she had worked with and had each person who donated sign a card.

I sent an email to 36 of my coworkers who had also worked directly with Linda, describing her situation and hoping to be able to surprise her with the card and $50.00 or $60.00. That was yesterday.

I delivered the card and cash today. She was surprised. So was I.
I wasn't surprised that I was delivering the card. I had some advance notice that I'd be doing that, after all, since it was my plan. What surprised me was that I wasn't delivering $50.00 or $60.00 along with the card.

I was delivering $250.00 and the news that people who couldn't come up with the cash today were insisting that I allow them to give me some money for her during the next two weeks.

Kinda restored a little of my lost belief that there might be something worthwhile about humanity.

NBY

Yay!

That's jusrt the sort of news to make my day, NBY!! Yay! I agree ... there might be something worthwhile about humanity.

Happy to see you back, by the way.

Don't worry, someone will do something to restore normal cynicism Real Soon Now.