Brighten Your Day

I needed to share this story with the online community. This is my first time sharing ever online, and I have made a rule to not promote my efforts to friends / family.

I have made a New Years resolution to give back. Whether it was time or money, just to give back. I do well, so i want to give back to people who need some motivation or help in time in need.

Meet Daryl. I did not get a picture of him, but he is a nightly cleaner at my gym. I don’t go much, but i could not sleep tonight so i decided to go stretch. Daryl worked his ass off mopping the floors and cleaning equipment that people didn’t clean after they use. Mind you, this was 3 a.m.

I went up to Daryl and asked him a few questions; does he have a family, hows everything going, etc. He was very skeptic at first, and you could tell he was sensitive to provide info to a stranger.

I told him that I made a New Years resolution to simply give back. Give back to those work their ass off day and night to support their family and take pride in their work. Daryl definitely did that.

I gave Daryl $100 in cash. I told him he deserves this and to not treat it like a donation. He worked for it and it was my personal goal to reward folks that often get overlooked. Daryl opened up and said no one has ever done this for him, he is struggling, and started to cry. He said he is old school and people like me don’t exist anymore. (I really want to emphasize i am not trying to toot my own horn, but share my story to inspire others).

I simply told him he deserves it, and when the time and resources come, to just follow my suit and do something small for someone who is working hard and is in need. Big or small.

I will not forget Daryl for a while. Thanks for letting me share.