In this day and age, it’s easy to be cynical…especially if you live in a big city. Last night I tried my hardest not to be.
After an admittedly frustrating day at work, I was thankful to go to yoga class and relax. As usual, I felt tons better afterwards.
And then I met Janet*.
Janet was a slightly older woman in a sleeveless long dress that stopped me on my way home for help. She appeared frazzled and explained that she was brand new to the area and had just been in a car accident in her mother’s car. The car had been towed, her mother was out of town, she didn’t know anybody in the area and had no way home.
I know, I know, it sounds like a classic scam right? That’s what I was trying to figure out in my head while she was talking. I dissected her story, her expression, her clothes, her mannerisms…anything to give me a clue to her honesty. In the end I believed her sincerity more than I disbelieved her and gave her some cab money.
As I headed home though, my inner cynic came out and I started to question my decision…and fell into a depression based on the belief that I had just been scammed. My boyfriend and sister tried to make me feel better but I just couldn’t get the incident out of my head and continued thinking of ways I could have handled the situation differently.
This morning, I was still obsessing over what had happened. Fed up with myself and not wanting to put a damper on the whole day, I finally released the incident and any possible feelings of regret. I figured on the bright side, I had helped someone out (even if they didn’t really need it) and I’d have a few extra karma points on my side.
Less than an hour later, while driving to work, I got a call from one of my co-workers informing me that a water main break near our office had closed down our building and everybody was to work from home – YES!
So thank you Janet - the money I gave you was certainly worth a day home from the office!
And thank you karma - I will never doubt again that you have my back!