Craziest shit happened to me yesterday…(Cliff Notes: My friend gets food from a homeless man, reboots his perspective on life. But please do me a favor, and read this post…)

I was sitting at Wendy’s with my buddy, Ilya to grab a quick bite.  He had already eaten so he didn’t order anything.  As we’re chatting about KaBoga, a homeless man stumbles over with a burger and nuggets.  At first, we were shocked and quite frankly, scared.  We didn’t know what to make of it.  He says that his name is Chris and noticed that my friend didn’t have any food, and thought he’d help out by buying him some food.  We’re both looking at each other, freaked out not realizing what was happening here.  We both had the ‘go away’ look on our face because here’s a homeless, dirty guy giving *US* food…He sits back down and promises the food isn’t poison and that he should eat because no one should ever starve.

At first we just tried to get a bag for the food to give to him, but he wouldn’t take it.  Said that he has already eaten, so that my buddy should eat instead…so we took it, said thanks.  And left.  As we’re driving around looking for a Starbucks to sit and talk business, we really didn’t say much…both of our minds were just totally distracted.  Distracted by the homeless man giving us food, when really…he could barely afford his own food.  I really don’t know how to feel to be honest, and I still really don’t.  It feels really spiritual for me, and I’m not a spiritual kind of guy.  It’s almost like one of those movies where God plays a homeless man, trying to teach me something…and ever since then…it has been a roller coaster of emotions… disappointed, shocked, happy-sad, grateful…

I’m disappointed in how selfish society is and what we consider okay.  No, I’m disappointed in how self-fish I am.  I’m disappointed in how such a simple act, made my entire day because these self-less acts don’t come naturally otherwise to me anymore.  Sure, I’m thankful if you come over and help me paint my house.  But a homeless man buying you food?  I didn’t pay any attention to him as we walked in – never noticed him.  He looked around, saw someone without food, and without hesitation brought food for my friend.  Talk about rebooting your perspective on life.

I’m shocked by his generosity.  I complain about being “broke” but really…I’m not.  ”Broke” because I can’t afford the toys that I want.  ”Broke” that I can’t take the vacations I want to go on.  ”Broke” that I can’t afford to finish my business quickly enough.  ”Broke” that I can’t indulge in material goods…then I look at him.  No roof to keep him warm at night.  No warm water to wash off the day.  Not even a bed to sleep in at night.  What’s worse is, he probably has some family somewhere…and nobody cares… Suddenly, I don’t feel so “broke” anymore.

I’m happy-sad because…just because. I don’t know how to explain the feeling really…here he is with nothing. And so I’m sad. I’m sad that he will probably be cold this evening as it reaches into the 30s tonight. Sad that this is his reality.  Sad that he has no one that cares about him.  No matter how good his heart is, money is what gets you in a home.  A warm bed.  A hot shower.  But I’m happy.  I’m happy that there are people still like that in this world and renews my faith in people.  Yesterday morning, I got shoved into the shoulder on the highway because some guy was road raging me hard.  In the evening, I was shown what a good heart was. And so I’m happy.  And I’m happy that money isn’t required to have a big heart.

And I’m grateful…I’m grateful that he has opened my eyes.  And all it took was a hamburger and 5-piece nuggets.  The poorest man that I’ve ever met, has taught me the greatest lesson I’ve ever learned. Beyond schools, beyond my mistakes, beyond my years.  I don’t know how to repay him…I’m grateful that he has taught me what it really means to be thankful.  I’ve always been thankful, but now I truly understand what thankful really means.  Thankful of what I do have, and what’s really important to me: my family.  my friends.  And that I have a roof over me.  Sadly, this gratefulness is partially self-fish.  Because I know, in the end, there’s no way I can pay him back with what I have…:(

So after being mindless and being in total shock…we drove back to the Wendy’s.  We had come to the realization of what had just happened…and I just wanted to thank him. We both did.  We sat down with him for 30 mins and talked to him.  Gave him some company…I know it wasn’t much but I really didn’t know what else to do.  Found out how he’s travelled around the United States, found out he played the drums and that he was born in Tennessee.  And he watches Dallas Cowboy’s football, lol.  I had a $10 on me, so when I pulled it out to try to give it to him, he REFUSED it.  We had to then spend another 10 mins trying to persuade him on taking the money… Thanks Chris.  Thanks and Cheers for opening my eyes and helping me see past what I don’t have, and thankful for what I do have.

Today, Sebastian Vettel is crowned the Formula 1 World Champion.  Although he had the fastest equipment, he did not always play his cards right – bitter inner-team rivalry, mental mistakes (hey, he’s only 23 years old!) and some drives where he probably over-thought the equation just a bit.  He never led the championship through 19 races and coming into the final race, he was 3rd overall…  But he did as he always did:  he stayed strong, ignored the noise, stayed calm, and just got on with the job.  Back to back pole positions, back to back wins in the last two races as his competitors made mistakes helped him seal the deal.

So what does this have to do with me?   Or you?  Never…ever, give up.   You know, Mark Webber, his Red Bull team-mate said that on Saturday that once he saw the times Vettel had posted, he said, ruefully, that” for the first time this season, I looked at the pit board and I though, ‘I can’t do that lap time.’ Everywhere else I’ve dug in and got the lap. Today I couldn’t do that.”  When you say that mentally, whether or not you are able to do it is irrelevant.  But if you’ve already given up on yourself, who is going to believe you?

Now, let me ask you… Are you going to give up?  Are you going to make excuses on why you are un-able to accomplish your goals?  Or will you sit down, ignore the noise and get on with that job of yours?   Will you be a Mark Webber, or will you be Sebastian Vettel?

So, Sebastian Vettel…Props to you sir.  Cheers on not giving up, and winning the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship!   A fine example for the rest of us!

This site…is my own personal site.   It will detail many things….if I decide to keep up with it, lol.  This site has been many things to me and has seen many transformations.  Originally it hosted my personal photography site, and most recently, I was in the process of using it as a portal to direct traffic to one of the sites that I care deeply about: www.kaboga.com.  So hopefully when the stars align in a few months, that name will be quite big.  So what stopped me from using daloi.com as a portal for personal photography again?  Well, honestly the name “daloi.com” doesn’t scream “PHOTOGRAPHY!”  So I’m going to switch it up and basically just use this site as a journal…a reflection of me as I move forward in business and life.  I’ve never had a site like this before so who knows…thus I question my commitment to it for now.  In the future though, it’ll be something big

For now though, here is my first post