A random encounter on the street
 

I live in a small town in canada and every night I go out jogging.... usually from around 11pm-1am. Since its late at night and this is a small town with a population of 10,000.... I almost never see cars, and I RARELY see a person out there... I've seen people on the street 3-4 times in 5 years of doing this in this area, at least five times a week. There are no streetlights so its quite dark. just me and the stars.

So tonight was really strange. I encounter a random guy in his 20s or 30s on the street around 12:40am, on my way home. Has no shoes. No flashlight. No phone. Just a box of liquor... turns out 10 miles away there's a place he can stay, but he doesn't have their phone number and no way to contact them. There's very few cars out at night, so he wasn't getting a ride like he hoped....not to mention some people are weary of picking up strangers at night who are drunk. I didn't have a cell phone on me.

Now at home (half a mile away..) sleeping is my wife and 3 kids. In my mind I"m thinking I would like to give this guy a ride, but then I'd have to wake up my whole family around 1am with this situation, which this guy clearly got himself into and has nothing to do with me.

He mentioned he'd walk to his friends place, but didn't have shoes. So I pretended that I didn't own a car (so he wouldn't bother me for ride), and gave the guy my flashlight, and my shoes. Literally gave him the shoes off my feet. It was a canadian moment.

So he started on his way, I joined him for a minute and gave him some encouragement and friendly words. Told him if any cars come to use the flashlight and hopefully they will pick him up. Patted him on the back and wished him well. then i jogged half a mile home bare foot.... looking at google it should take him about 3-4 hours to reach his destination.

In retrospect, a much better solution for everyone would have been.

"Wait here buddy, I'll jog to my house and call a taxi, then I'll come back & give them some money for your ride."

Then come back with some taxi money, a bag of food for the guy, and get to keep my shoes. My shoes cost more then the taxi ride would cost... so he's walking 4 hours and I'm losing my shoes... and the shoes didn't fit him properly anyways.... did I fuck up tonight or what lol.

Should of called the cops on his ass.

It's difficult to help people. You just do the best you can and move on. I'm able to think of many instances where I felt like I could do more, later. Next time just do better

Did you have socks at least? How cold was it?

Keep living there because you wouldn't survive 2 weeks in a US city.

:error

Why should he do that?

I didn't have socks and it was almost 0 degrees, but I was also finishing a 7 mile run so I was warm.

he was being very friendly and needed some help.... if he was breaking into cars or being aggressive I would have.

TBH whenever I go to big cities I don't even give change to the homeless and mostly ignore them... I'm not a very 'charitable' kinda guy who gives into people, but this one was more personal and difficult to just walk away from... especially without shoes on *drumroll*

Looking thru my 'lens' that guy on the street was better off than me, as he had some liquor...

Can you send ME a pair of shoes, please?

I was just kidding. I wouldn't do that.

But I wouldn't have given him my shoes either :1orglaugh

Survival of fittest vs Darwin Theory.

You ran half a mile barefoot in 0 degree tempeature?? :(

When it comes to survival, man is capable of more than that