Good Deed #5: Feeding a Stranger

The Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 99-88 on Monday night at the Verizon Center in front of a sold out crowd. As I exited the arena along with the 20,000 other fans in attendance that night, I decided that I would get a bite to eat with my girlfriend who bought the tickets for us.

Like the previous days, Monday night’s temperature was in the 30s. As we briskly walked towards the ESPN Zone where we agreed to eat dinner, we came across a a pile of blankets tucked away in the dark entrance of a store that was closed up for the night. Without thinking much of who or what may be beneath those blankets, I continued on my way with a single target track aimed at the ESPN Zone which was now within visual range.

The next thing I heard was my girlfriend “I feel bad, let’s get him dinner.” My initial reaction was “no, I’m cold, I’m hungry and tired.” Just as soon as I was about to dismiss the idea, I thought of this blog and my reason for starting it in the first place. I then thought of who may be under those blankets and how “cold, hungry and tired,” they had been.

Conveniently there was a McDonald’s up ahead and so we slipped in and bought 3 McDouble cheeseburgers, 2 four-piece chicken nuggets and 2 waters.

“Excuse me,” I said as I stood over the pile of blankets, “I got you dinner tonight.” Slowly a women with one front tooth rolled over from shielding herself from the rest of the pedestrians walking past and said “thank you.” I don’t know who was more surprised. Was it the woman awakened by a complete stranger with a bag full of food or myself, who 10 minutes previously was only thinking about his own needs?

After a night where my girlfriend spent over $200 on tickets, $100 on a hotel room, $20 on parking, $50 on matching Paul Pierce shirts, $7.50 beers (x2), cotton candy, hot dogs, dinner for two at the ESPN Zone and games, money wasn’t something we could really complain about or use as an excuse for NOT doing something. The $5 we used for McDonald’s was ironically the best spent money all night.

I traveled 280 miles to Washington, DC to watch the Celtics play the Wizards and between Goldsboro, NC and DC, I never thought in a million years that spending $5 on a complete stranger was the thing that would bring me the most happiness. When the Celtics won I was excited but probably not more so than knowing that somebody had a hot meal that night who otherwise would have gone hungry.

Unfortunately, I was unable to watch Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards play on Monday night since he and a fellow teammate were suspended for bringing guns into the locker room earlier in the season. Because of this, the commissioner David Stern suspended Arenas for the rest of the season. Each GAME that he misses will cost him $147,000.

I don't know what he would have spent that money on. But I do know that it sure could buy a lot of sandwiches.