The Umbrella

Yesterday I was at the BART station, on my way home from a very LONG day at work.
I was exhausted and had a headache coming on. I had 2 bags of food that I had brought home from work, that were getting all 'smooshed'. And on top of all that, it was raining. I was listening to music on my mp3 player, like I always do on my way to and from work, when I heard someone say, "Excuse me." When I turned and took out my headphones, I noticed it was a young man, about 18-22 years old. He was asking me something about my umbrella. I then realized what he was saying and handed him my umbrella. He then walked over to this older gentleman and held the umbrella over him as he walked to the bus he needed. Once the older gentleman was on the bus, the young man came back with my umbrella and thanked me. I said, "You're welcome." but I should have said, "Thank you."

Here I was so concerned about myself, how miserable I felt and worrying about the smooshed and wet bags of food I was carrying, that I missed an opportunity to offer assistance to another. Just a simple act of kindness... one that probably meant quite a bit to that older man. How many other chances to offer help and service to others have I missed out on?