2ND VICE | STEF HOLDEN

I would like to take a moment to share with all of you something that happened to me a few weeks ago, you see, I was asked by an acquaintance of mine (I refer to him as an acquaintance because although I do not dislike him, I just do not know him very well.) to pick him up at his house (I did not know where he lived.) and drive him down to the VA in La Jolla at 5am on a Monday morning for a procedure he was scheduled to undergo that day. I accepted the favor this fellow vet was asking of me in spite of the fact that, in doing so, it meant me having to wake up at 4am and drive a 60-mile round trip in order to carry out the favor to him. I picked him up outside of his house at 4:50am and we proceeded to drive to La Jolla. Not much was said along the way, perhaps because it was so early or perhaps because I have never known him to be a man of many words. As we arrived at the hospital, he turned to me and said “Thank you for the ride, you are a good man and God bless you”. When I arrived back at my house shortly before 6:30am, I said to my wife, “As much as I’m happy to help someone out in need, I cannot stop wondering why he asked me.” Her reply was simply “You are probably the most reliable person he knows.” “Huh!” I thought to myself as I began to prepare for what was to be a long day. I do not know why he asked me and I never will. I simply did a favor for someone who needed a favor. If you are to take away any lesson from this story, I ask you to always remind yourselves that it cost you nothing to be kind.