For Polish Father's day I want to share one of the things I love about Greg as a dad, a husband, and member of society in general. :)
He is good.
I saw a video recently of an experiment done in France where a man, dressed as a homeless person, fell, coughing to the ground in a busy pedestrian area. He laid there and whimpered, "help!" from time to time as people simply walked by for a full five minutes. I cried for the usual reasons, i.e. witnessing potential helpless desperation, many people available, and none of them willing to help.
But I cried even harder when I thought about what Greg would have done. And I am quite certain of what he would have done.
If they've been paying attention, our kids would know as well. I can think of a handful of situations, just off the top of my head, such as when:
*He stopped to talk to/help a homeless/drunk person in a park in our town.
*He stopped the car on a highway far from home to warn a drunk man stumbling on the side of the road and to lead him to a safer place for walking. (plus lots of other times he's called and asked the police to come and help a drunk on a busy road).
*We stopped in a city in our travels to get a snack and on our way back to our car, walking across the street and down the block, I noticed that some of us had fallen behind. Evie caught up to me, leaned in and whispered that Dad was walking a blind man across the street. I had just passed the same man, and when I looked back I saw Greg carrying Spencer and walking near the man and away from us, as he re-crossed the street. Evie said, "the guy doesn't even know".
*The time when he was a teenager and he helped a man dying at a bus stop. (this story in another post)
*(sort of related) He empties out all the car seats when he travels alone so he can take hitchhikers, then comes home and tells stories of the interesting people he meets, who sometimes end up joining the church. :)
All of these instances came flooding back to me after watching that video, and I was so thankful that I had to call and let him know about it. When I did he first told me I was cute, and then said, "Well, that's because I grew up in Łódż where there were a looooot of drunks."
No, honey. I'm pretty sure that's not why. I'm pretty sure it's because you're just a great person, and an excellent example to your kids of doing good things without hoping for any recognition or anything in return.
