A beautiful thing

So I saw an amazing thing today.  A man, obviously a transient and homeless, unshaven, mismatched barely appropriate clothing, and shoeless.  Gingerly he made his way across scorching hot concrete to find some shade to stand in, created by a business's awning.  I'm not sure what he was in search of other than shaded concrete, but his reasons, I reckon, are moot.  This in and of itself is not in the least amazing, there are countless poor souls whom for whatever reason and in whatever walk of life, share this mans predicament.  The amazing thing, the wonderful thing, is the conversation and ensuing action.  See I was riding in the passenger seat, and Christie was driving.

Christie: "That man has no shoes."

Me:"No ma'am"

Christie:"That concrete is HOT"

Me:"Yeah it has to be burning his feet"

Christie:"He needs shoes"

Not a joke, not a glib comment, just the completely logical previously transcribed conversation and observation, followed by a right turn, then another right, and finally another right turn, to find where this man was seen walking.  Pulling into the parking lot, the window was rolled down, followed by the question, 

"Do you not have any shoes?"

And the simple response,

"No"

"What size do you wear?"

"Uh nine"

And she pulled the shoes off of her feet with the justification that her shoes were a nine and she needed to replace them anyway, but at least it would keep him from walking barefooted across the concrete.  This is why I love this woman.  No expectation of return, or gratitude, or recognition.  She saw someone she could help, and did.  In life I think we need to find people, people who improve us just by being themselves, people who make us want to be better ourselves, and give us drive and help to return our shaken faith in humanity and love for fellow man.  This is how as a species, we have survived.