By Julia Winn
With the invalidated parking ticket in my hand, I walked to the underground garage in Salt Lake and checked the parking fees. I had parked in the wrong lot, therefore disqualifying my chance at a validation.
I checked my wallet, realizing it was void of the $5 I needed for the fee. I walked to an ATM; only to learn my account balance was even below that of the amount I owed.
Feeling like a vagabond, I wandered the streets looking for a payphone. I even considered starting to ask complete strangers for donations.
Finally, I ended up on a payphone, explaining the situation to my amused boyfriend, hoping he could bail me out.
Across from me sat a security guard with headphones on, his white hair framing a kindly face. He looked up and gave me a quick smile.
I smiled back, asking for the name of the building and the address. He offered the information willingly and I resumed finalizing my rescue plan.
Suddenly, the security guard chirped, 'I can validate your ticket for you.'
'You could?' I replied, gratitude gushing forth. I didn''t even know he had been listening to my conversation.
I got off the phone and waited while the man disappeared around the corner with my ticket. He returned with the red letters 'Boyer' stamped on the back.
'Just show that to the attendant and you should be fine,' said the white-haired man.
I smiled at him, thankfully clutching the ticket, trying not to sound pathetic. I told him how much he had helped me, how much I appreciated it and stumbled around the corner to the stairwell.
As I was leaving the parking garage, my entire perspective on the world had changed.
Sometimes, this world is full of people caught up in making their own world turn that they forget they are part of a greater whole - a group of people collectively moving together.
It is not a type of deliberate selfishness, but one that creeps upon us unless we guard against it.
Just something as simple as noticing the need of someone else and making the smallest effort to help the person out can change a person''s entire day.
With the conflict in Iraq and other skirmishes in other nations, it is easy to feel like the whole world has caught the fire of contention and disregard.
I know the thought of changing the world 'one good deed at a time' is sticky sweet with sentiment, so I won''t even mention something like that. I am not na?ve enough to think that smiling at one person can bring the world peace. All I can say is how I felt when one person went out of his way to help me.
It is often a small effort on our part, but it means so much to someone else. For one moment, in our tiny sphere of influence, we can make someone else''s world a little less menacing.
Maybe I''ll run in to 'Boyer' again and I can return the favor.