{"id":123696,"date":"2024-02-05T13:20:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T18:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=123696"},"modified":"2024-02-05T13:20:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T18:20:52","slug":"the-best-lesson-in-being-kind-ive-ever-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=123696","title":{"rendered":"The Best Lesson In Being Kind I\u2019ve Ever Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=123696\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=123696\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-123697 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/download-300x180.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/download-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/download.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>By Sharon Synowsky<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Back in 1996, I was a twenty-something girl living her best life. I had my first apartment, my first car, a nice boyfriend, and the BEST job EVER as a bartender at the hottest live music bar in Pittsburgh. I was making money, making friends, and making memories. I was living in the moment, carpe diem-ing my way through life.<\/p>\n<p>After a particularly awesome night of work, I was driving home. It was about 3:30 AM. As I passed the 7-Eleven, I noticed a man passed out in the grassy area between the parking lot and the street. I did a double take, drove two blocks, and thought, \u201cNo, something isn\u2019t right. You\u2019ve got to go back.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>So, I turned around, parked in the 7-Eleven lot and approached the guy lying in the grass. I checked \u2013 he\u2019s breathing, thank God. I didn\u2019t smell alcohol, which I found strange. He\u2019s passed out, he\u2019s got to be drunk, right? So, I nudged the guy a little, he didn\u2019t move. I shook him by his arm, and he roused himself. I said, \u201cHi, I\u2019m here to help. What do you need?\u201d He looked at me, smiled, and said, \u201cAre you an angel?\u201d I laughed and said, \u201cNo, Sir, I\u2019m just a gal who saw you resting here and wanted to see if you needed any help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNope, you\u2019re an angel, Miss, you\u2019re MY angel. Name\u2019s Floyd R, retired USMC.\u201d He stuck out his left hand and we shook. Floyd (he INSISTED I called him Floyd) said, \u201cNo disrespect meant by using my left hand to shake, I just\u2026\u201dthen he showed me his right hand, which had no thumb. \u201cLeft my thumb over there, but the rest of me came back! High four!\u201d And we clapped hands.<\/p>\n<p>Floyd explained that he lived in Oakland, had been to Southside to visit a friend. He missed the last bus to Oakland. He had gone back to his friend\u2019s place but there was no answer. He didn\u2019t have enough money for a cab. So, he figured he\u2019d just walk around the neighborhood until the buses started running again.<\/p>\n<p>Floyd also explained that he was living at the VA and was undergoing treatment for cancer. He hadn\u2019t eaten much at his friend\u2019s, and felt \u201cwobbly\u201d, so he sat down. \u201cThat must have been when I conked over\u201d, he said. He didn\u2019t drink alcohol anymore because of his treatments. I was sitting next to him, and we were getting looks from the few cars driving by. He was telling me stories about his life, avoiding talking about his service (\u201cAH! Boring stuff! Now, when I was ten, my brother threw a Matchbox car at my head. See the scar?\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>As we were sitting there chatting, two gentlemen approached from the 7-Eleven parking lot. The first guy had an orange juice and a muffin. \u201cHey, I\u2019m a resident at (local hospital), Sir, I thought you might need this.\u201d He gave the food to Floyd. The resident asked Floyd a few questions, nodded and said, \u201cI figured you needed to eat.\u201d The second gentleman said, \u201cMy cab is right over there, I can take you home or to the hospital if you need to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Floyd\u2019s eyes grew watery, and he stubbornly wiped away his tears. \u201cI am the luckiest sunuvabitch tonight. First, this angel appears (high four, angel!), then you guys come along to help too. All because this angel stopped to help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We got Floyd to his feet. We got him some more juice and snacks. We got him in the cab (with a round of \u201chigh fours\u201d all around). We got him home safely.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019m not writing this to toot my own horn, pat myself on the back or for any kudos. I\u2019m writing this because of what I learned from helping Floyd that night. One person \u2013 ONE \u2013 stepping in and stepping up can and DOES motivate others to do the same. One person \u2013 ONE \u2013 stepping up and doing the right thing can and DOES make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>But mostly I\u2019m writing this in memory of Floyd R, retired USMC, who I\u2019ve thought of often over the past (nearly) thirty years. This guy had a great sense of humor, accepted assistance gratefully and graciously, and made a lasting impression on an otherwise self-centered 20-something living her best life \u2013 he taught her that her best life could be better, just by being kind and setting an example with that kindness. And we sure could use more kindness these days.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sharon Synowsky Back in 1996, I was a twenty-something girl living her best life. I had my first apartment, my first car, a nice boyfriend, and the BEST job EVER as a bartender at the hottest live music bar in Pittsburgh. I was making money, making friends, and making memories. I was living in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[31828],"class_list":["post-123696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-the-best-lesson-in-being-kind-ive-ever-learned"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123696"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/123697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}