Those moments you'll always remember

[chavosaur]

Today, I took part in something that I don't think Ill ever forget for the rest of my life.

An elderly woman came in to target today to buy a few things. She could not walk of her own accord, so i brought her the little electric scooter, and told her if she needed anything, tell an employee and Ill help her out. I get a call later, and it turns out the scooter died. So, not having any other available scooters, I brought her a wheelchair and told her Id be more than happy to push her around the store and carry the basket for her things. She told me I needn't bother, but I insisted and had her sit in the chair. As I was taking her around the store, she started telling me that her son normally pushed her around when she went to the store, but he wasn't around. I asked what happened​

She told me that he had been killed serving in Afghanistan.​

I spent the rest of my moments, helping her out with everything she needed, while she told me all the amazing things her son had done during his service, and how much she missed him dearly. As she was checking out, she had a smile on her face. She told me I was a very kind person for listening to her and helping her out. ​

Her stories and life touched me in a very meaningful way. I am proud of every man and woman who performs their duties to America. And I am proud to say I could help the mother of this soldier who cannot roam this earth any longer.​

So what about y'all? Do you have any of those moments that you'll always remember?​

 

[Sicklyboy]

That's deep, man.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and throw out some more retail experience to go along with that. I can't think of anything in particular at the moment, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to, but on a general note, all the people that come in to work having lost everything they have to hurricane Sandy, and me listening to them tell their stories. I'm sure they have told the same stories tons of times to everyone they know, but I hope it makes some small difference to them knowing that just some guy at the electronics counter is more than willing to listen to them when they're pretty much down on everything else and lend what advice or words of comfort I can.

 

[Gahars]

Damn it, Chav. You bring up that engrossing tear jerker of a story and then ask us to try and top it? That's one tough act to follow.

 

[chavosaur]

I would imagine so haha, but its the moments like that that make me enjoy life that much more. It's amazing thee story a person carries with them everyday, and its even more amazing, when your the one they share it with.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

I was kind of hoping this thread would be about video game moments... lol

That being said my life is filled with things I will never forget, although most of them are WTF moments worthy of a comedy movie not some tear jerking chick flick type thing.... lol

*In that guys voice who does all the trailers for movies*

A heart warming story about an old woman, a heroic son and the local Target employee. Together they share a bond that no terrorist can break!

Target: Afghanistan!!! Sometimes hero's don't come home.... coming to theaters this fall!

 

[Lanlan]

Another elderly person at a retail giant story, but not nearly as good:
An elderly gentleman asked me to grab him an item from the top shelf at the Walmart where I work, so I obliged. After wards, he told me "You're a good man, I'll be sure to tell Sam about you", referring to the deceased Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. A few months later I was thinking about that and finally realized, he meant when he died he'd tell him. It touched my heart.

 

[Castiel]

This one is very, very long, but I heard it only last week. It is actually a very sad story that shows just how terrible some human beings can be. I wouldn't have remembered all of this info if it didn't really hit me and those that were at the presentation. Well worth the read if you have a lot of spare time:

Background story:

Spoiler

This guy named Tad came in to our school to tell us that he cares for each and every one of us, and to give us proof of that based on real life events in the past.
He was a very introverted guy when he was younger. His dad was always drinking and never really stood up for him when the guy needed him to. Tad's mother was dead, and his dad had married another lady who the speaker referred to as "the devil." She was always yelling at the speaker, and just always treated him like crap. She made some "house rules" that he had to follow: live in the basement (which was like a cellar. Small space, a small rug, one couch, one light on the ceiling, and a small T.V that had very few channels; like 5.), and when it was time to eat, "the devil" would drop a plate of food at the top of the stairs. Tad had 5 minutes to eat once the plate hit the floor, so if he didn't know the plate hit the floor or realized it a couple minutes after, he had very little to nothing to eat. His dad would always tell him, "don't worry son, it'll get better. Just be patient." and then start drinking again. One time when Tad was in the cellar he heard people come into the house, and then 'the devil" called him up. He didn't know what was going on, so he slowly went upstairs. They had company and "the devil" introduced him by telling the friends of hers, "And this is Tad, the boy no one will ever like." (Or something terrible along those lines).

Not only was Tad bullied at home, but he was bullied at school as well. People would always call him names and just pick on him. One time when he was walking home and some boys were following him an calling him names. He didn't think of it much as it was a usual thing. He also knew that the boys didn't actually mean it. They just thought they were being funny. Once he got home he was a little glad because he got away from the boys and "the devil" wasn't home yet, so he had some free time. But he soon heard something at the front door. He looked out the window and say the boys running away. Tad opened the door and saw that the boys had spit, rubbed boogers, and did all kinds of nasty things to the front door. It was a cold day out so Tad had to use his finger to wipe most everything off of the door.

Because of all the bullying he faced, Tad often thought of suicide.
One time when Tad was like 17, he was downstairs and "the devil" was yelling at him, and his father came down. They were talking and his father gave him some money and told told him to take some friends to go play pool or something. Tad found this suspicious because his dad knew he had no friends to go hang out with. Tad took the money and ran away from home. He got food to get him through the rest of the day, and met with some social services people. They agreed to find him an apartment and help him out a bit. The apartment had almost nothing in it. So Tad got a couple jobs (he did very well in school) so he could pay rent and buy things. He started to live on his own.

Events passed, he worked on his social skills, and made some friends. Tad's dream was always to be a cop. He wanted to become a cop because he wanted to help people. He believed that his dream was only a dream, though, and that it wasn't meant to be achieved. But one time when he was playing softball with some of his friends, he noticed a new guy. Tad went up to the new guy and started making conversation. The guy ended up telling Tad that he was a cop. Tad told the guy his dream, but that he probably would never achieve it. The new guy told Tad that he should put in a resume anyways. What's the worst that could happen. So, Tad did, and he got in. His dream was achieved. He became a cop.

As you can see, Tad lived a pretty terrible childhood. So how does this prove that he cares for everyone and wants to help them? Continue reading and find out.

Background story of Tad's inspiration:

Spoiler

Tad then went on to tell us a story of his main inspiration, a guy named Jamie. Tad was laying there one time after work reading the paper, when he read the story of Jamie. Jamie had a great family. They always did everything together, often went on trips, and were very close. Jamie also really liked to blog about his day. One day, Jamie's father asked him what he wanted to do when he got older. Jamie told his father that he wanted to become a figure skater. His father was a little puzzled, but that same day he went out with Jamie, got the gear, and started Jamie's figure skating lessons. Soon, through Jamie's blog, the boys at school found out and started bullying him. Jamie was called pretty much every name in the book; gay, queer, etc. Jamie told his father about this and they had a discussion about why people always associated guys who figure skated to be gay. Jamie's father asked him if he wanted his parents to do anything about it, but Jamie told him no. He was going to beat the bullies with a positive attitude. So, Jamie switched schools and was all excited because he was going to a place where no one knew him.

Jamie could no longer walk to school, so he had to start taking the bus. He was all excited because he was going to take the bus, meet new people, and make some new friends. He walked down the isle of the bus smiling and looking at everyone all happy-like. He sat down by himself. He soon started to notice that as more people got on the bus, still no one sat by him. But then some boys started to walk toward him, and they were smiling. Jamie thought that the boys were wanting to meet Jamie and become his friend. The boys went up to him, grabbed him and held him down on the seat of the bus. (Where the bus driver was is a whole different question.). They held Jamie's mouth open, and then one by one, started to spit in his mouth. It wasn't only the people that came up to him doing it either. It was everyone on the bus who spat in his mouth. His mouth was literally overflowing with spit. They would also throw the odd punch in the gut, or elbow to the nuts. And then, one of the boys thought it would be a good idea to ram some batteries from one of his own devices down Jamie's throat.

Jamie went through his whole next year being bullied. Called names, attacked at his locker, etc. But he never stopped being positive. Every time his parents offered to step in he would tell them not to. That he was going to beat the bullies with positivity.

One day Jamie and his family were hanging out having a great time, when all of a sudden Jamie turned pale. His father asked him what was wrong, and Jamie responded by telling them that he had to tell them something. His father asked what it was, and Jamie told them that he was indeed homosexual. His parents actually took this very well. Telling him it didn't matter because he is still their kid, and it didn't change who he is.

Very long story short; one time in Jamie's grade 8 (I think it was) year of school, he decided to have a "Get to Know Jamie Day." He went to his principal and asked if he could have a class where people could just come in, get to know Jamie, and discuss things about themselves as well. His principal thought that this was a great idea. This made Jamie really excited because he was finally going to make some friends. He ran home, told his parents, and asked if they would be willing to help him get posters and things for the day. His parents told him, "We've been waiting 3 years for you to allow us to help." So, the day came, and the class was going to be at noon. Once noon hit, Jamie went to the class, and waited all excitedly. He waited... and waited... and waited... and waited. No one showed up. This really upset Jamie, and he didn't think he could go on with the rest of the day he was so upset. He walked home, and his father was waiting for him. He expected Jamie to be coming home early to tell him how great the day went. He saw Jamie approaching the house slowly. When Jamie got through the door, his father asked him what was going on. Jamie told him no one came. His father said, "Don't worry son, you can still beat them. Why don't you get ready for some food?" Jamie responded with, "I know dad. I just want to go blog about how my day went." Jamie went upstairs, blogged, and then killed himself. The blog post was a suicide note about how he hoped his family could continue to live the life Jamie couldn't; a happy one.

Dang. Some pretty heavy stuff going on. This really makes one question how people couldn't step in and try to help those who are being bullied, and how people could bully others so much. No one expects that the person they are bullying will do something so serious, but they still have to know that it can happen.

I don't want anyone to read this story and think that positivity will lead no where. It really does have a great impact. But positivity alone isn't enough. We need to take a stand and let people help us through our struggles. Jamie was on the right track. His only mistake is that he tried to do it alone. More often then not, when one tries to do something this big alone, it won't work. I strongly believe we need people to help us in order to succeed. Anyways, back to the story.

Tad's response:

Spoiler

Tad read this story about Jamie and, at that point, decided that he was going to do something about all of the bullying in the world. He decided that he would start a campaign. He would go around and share with people the story of his life, and the story of Jamie's life. He e-mailed Jamie's father (Jamie's father was a counsellor so it wasn't hard to find his e-mail). He asked his father if he could use Jamie's story as part of his campaign. Jamie's father responded with the words, "Yes. Good luck." (Tad took this as a sign that Jamie's father had given up). So, Tad taught himself how to make and design a logo, and taught himself how to make a website. Everything he does, he does by himself (as far as I know). He is now going around to places like schools and sharing these stories.

Tad had to give up a lot to do this. His work found out about what he was doing (Tad never told them. He does this for us, not them) and they thought that what he was doing was awesome, but they told him that there would be no way for him to continue doing the job he was doing, and do this campaign at the same time (Tad would go around on his spare time to share all of this, while still trying to maintain his job). He had to choose between his dream job, and his dream to help others. He chose the dream to hep others. He gave up his dream job in order to try and help people who are being bullied, or who are the bullies.

He also gave another example to try and prove that he cares about others above anything else. Tad's partner (also his best friend) had this whole day planned out to surprise his girlfriend. He was going to surprise her with tickets to a concert of a band she really liked and didn't know were in town, then he was going to take her to a restaurant they always wanted to go to but never had the money to go to, and then while they were at the restaurant he was going to propose to her.

Tad's partner volunteered to work more hours as they were low on workers. The first hour into this extra work period, Tad's partner was driving around, and got hit by an on-coming vehicle. He was killed on his girlfriends birthday, the day that he was going to propose to her.

One the day that Tad's partner was going to be buried, he was scheduled to go speak to a group (I think a school) about his campaign. He chose to first speak to the group, and then go to his best friends funeral. He buried his best friend, and then went home. When he went home he had over 100 e-mails from people who had heard him speak. He sat down, and responded to every single one of them.

I have a huge amount of respect for Tad. The amount of care that he shows other people is phenomenal.
I don't think I'll ever forget the day that Tad came and spoke to us. I try and tell people about the story he shared whenever I can. He goes around and tries to the best of his ability to bring hope in to the lives of every single person that he comes across. We need more people who care as much as Tad does.

Anyways, I was going to go to bed at least an hour ago, but then I saw this thread an decided to type this whole story out. If anyone is interested, here is the website Tad created for his campaign.
Tad's website: http://www.bullyingendshere.ca/
(I got approval from Tad to be able to share this.)

 

[Jiehfeng]

I didn't read castiel's post lol
But if anyone see's the op with out liking it, they are not human.

 

[Castiel]

I didn't read castiel's post lol

I won't hold it against you

 

[BORTZ]

 

[chavosaur]

snippy

Read the whole thing, it was amazing. Thanks for sharing

 

[Deleted-236924]

I didn't read castiel's post lol
But if anyone see's the op with out liking it, they are not human.

But if anyone sees Castiel's post without reading it, they are not human.

 

[Chary]

This thread is making me tear up.

 

[Sterling]

@Castiel: That's terrible. Those stories are as inspirational as inspirational can get. I think I cried a little.

 

[Castiel]

@Castiel: That's terrible. Those stories are as inspirational as inspirational can get. I think I cried a little.

May people at the presentation were crying as well. It hit us even more once he mentioned that he himself is homosexual, and when he started going on about how we are the problem because we are either not doing anything, or we are the people bullying others.
He is going to be coming back in April and it affected everyone so much that some teachers are trying to get him to speak to the whole school instead of just a few classes this time.