A co-worker of the husband's recently lost his Mother. She passed away suddenly and from what we know, she was not elderly- meaning she still had a long life ahead of her and she was not ill previously. The husband reached out to his co-worker to offer his condolences and was not acknowledged. Eh- ok. We chalked it up to a son still grieving the loss.
But the thing is- this co-worker has always been a bit distant. Time and time again, the husband has gone out of his way for this person and has seen no returns on his time invested. How so? Well the husband has personally helped this person out on his days off, has done phone consults with them unpaid, covered shifts for this person and when this person took almost 4 months off and stalled and stalled coming back to work- it was the husband that bared the brunt of this extra workload. When the husband has needed someone to cover him and help him out- this man never stepped up. To say that this person was less then deserving of the husband's generosity, would be an understatement.
But then his Mother died.
Unfortunately, this co-worker was scheduled to work the same weekend he was to lay his Mom to rest. I won't even get into the fact that a company would expect a person to work during a time like this.....gah, disgusting! But here's the thing- not a single one of his co-workers volunteered to help him out. Perhaps it had a thing or two to do with how he treated them mmkay....
Then one night the husband told me that he had called the office and volunteered to take this man's weekend shift. A long, brutal, exhausting shift....He went on to say that he wasn't even going to tell his co-worker that he had stepped up for him because he wasn't looking for praise but was simply doing what was right.
He was simply doing what was right.
Yeah, he's pretty amazing like that....but then we talked about it and I mentioned that perhaps it would ease this man's mind to know that he didn't have to worry about working the same weekend he buried his Mother.
So today after his normal Friday meeting, he told his co-worker- "Hey Man, don't worry about this weekend. I got you."
Oh. My. Gawd.
And this man was at a loss for words. This man who had taken the husband's generosity time and time again and couldn't be bothered to return the favor- this man was speechless. He simply had no way to express his appreciation and thanks and so he gave the husband a long handshake and walked away with tears in his eyes.
Sometimes doing the right thing is hard. Even more so when we feel like the person isn't deserving of our kindness. But at the end of the day you have to make the choice to follow the right path, even if no one notices you walking along it.
Dearest Husband- I know. I see you. You are a good man, doing the right thing and modeling for the kiddo what a man should do. Being a good person means you make the choices to follow the good even when no one is watching.
So the next time I am faced with stepping up and doing the right thing, especially when I may feel hurt or offended- I will do my best to remember this moment. The moment in which the husband showed me that we do what is right no matter what.
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