A kid at downtown crossing asked me for $11 tonight via cashapp, and I thought what a wonder it is to spend and transfer and ask for money these days.
He told me he worked at CVS, showing me the logo on his red shirt and I guess my train of thought was “well if he has a job, why is he asking for money?” So I asked him
“What do you need it for?”
And he said he needed the money to get his girlfriend food.
I didn’t have much money myself, but my payday is today, whereas his was tomorrow, and I’m just out myself $100 because I had helped out someone else.
When he said those words to me, on the train ride back to my house I thought briefly of how life, relationships could be expensive, but him being a better man than myself, he may not tell his girlfriend the whole truth of how he got the money to stop her stomach from growling, but perhaps he showed her he has what it takes to get her what she may or may not need.
He told me he’d send me back $20 when he got paid, but I honestly don’t expect to see the money come back to me, as I remembered one holiday evening I gave a guy $400 something dollars so he could get back to New Hampshire.
And now it’s finally clicking.
Maybe this is the universe paying me back.
The truth is I’ve been receiving a great deal of financial help myself, from friends, family, and I make sure to pay them back, if they want it, and sometimes they never do, but this small sense of community and support, it feels good to pay it forward.
I expected to see my paycheck in my bank account by the time I got home from work, but sometimes it appears around 5PM the next day, still, what’s $11?
A full stomach, a small umbrella for the rain, a cheap blanket to stave off the cold.
I can afford $11.