Lesson from a Stranger (Narrative Paper)

“Are you and Allexis coming to the J-Wride concert tonight? The tickets cost $3 each.”

“Of course I am going to the concert! We’ll see you in 5 minutes.”

I grabbed a five dollar bill out of my wallet, stuffed it into my front pocket, and headed out the door with my roommate Allexis. My friend Ty had pulled up in his sporty silver car in the parking lot. His older cousin Rob was in the front seat so Allexis and I got in the back. We were running a good 30 minutes late to the J-Wride concert, but thanks to Ty’s parallel parking skills and tiny car we were able to get a parking spot directly in front of the Muse music venue.

The concert was being held for a good friend of mine from freshman year of college who had recently discovered that she had a brain tumor on the left side of her brain. She had some good friends that were in a band called J-Wride so the group got together and set up a concert for her at the music venue known as Muse. They asked some other bands they had played with before to join them and held the concert to raise money for her to help pay for some of the medical costs. She couldn’t make it to the concert because her biopsy was the day before, but they had special equipment that allowed them to broadcast it live on the internet so she could watch it while at the hospital.

The four of us walked through the front door of Muse and headed towards the lady with long dark brown hair that looked like she was in her 20’s at the small school desk in the corner to buy our tickets. In front of her was a small tin box to store the money. I handed her my crinkly five dollar bill, and she gave me my two dollar change that I then placed in my front pocket. I headed toward the concert area and turned around to see Ty paying for his ticket, but not with a five dollar bill. I saw his lips moving and realized he was still talking to the ticket lady.

“Give the extra money to Jenna’s family. I don’t need any change back.”

Underneath his five dollar bill, he had two twenties. I didn’t notice them before, and wouldn’t have ever known that had happened if I hadn’t turned around just at that moment. Ty was so generous, and so humble about it. I then waited and watched the other two, Allexis and Rob, to see how they went about paying for the ticket. They handed the ticket lady a ten dollar bill each. As we all walked into the concert, I felt guilty for being so selfish and not even having the thought cross my mind to bring extra money. I went to support my friend, so why had I only brought the bare minimum of cash and then keep my two dollar change?

We were standing in the very back next to the microphone controls stationed by the door most of the concert. About fifteen minutes after we arrived, a man bumped into me on accident as he tried to get into the concert. He was about 6’ 3” and maked me feel a little nervous because he had the appearance that he might be drunk. He wasn’t clean shaven and had a straw fedora hat on his head that appeared to have been used for many years or found in the garbage and a hobo-esque jacket that was dark gray that went down to his knees and had some tears in it.

“Do any of you know the girl’s family?”

This caught my attention because I knew her. I turned around with the intention of telling him I knew her family, but found that he was talking to the members of J-Wride specifically, who had been standing behind us the whole time.

“Yeah we do. We’re good friends of her. Can we help you at all?”

“I was wondering if you could pass this on to her family.”

I looked down towards his hand as I noticed him opening a tightly closed fist. I saw a tight roll of hundred dollar bills with a single rubber band wrapped twice around it. It appeared to be about five or six hundred dollars.

“Don’t tell her who gave it to them. I want it to be anonymous. My son passed away just a year ago from a cancerous tumor and I know how scary and emotionally draining this situation can be and I just wanted to show support for Jenna and her family in some sort of way.”

I stood there watching this transaction and felt tears start to run down my face. The man who I had judged so quickly had given a very generous amount of cash to help out a family he didn’t even know. He was just a normal guy trying to do his part in the world by helping others. I had paid the three dollars and taken my change back whereas this complete stranger that didn’t even know her gives away five hundred dollars. He then walked up towards the front of the concert and stood next to this woman who was just a few inches shorter than him and in a floral shirt and light blue overalls. She wrapped her arm around his and they both began to sway to the music, taking in every note being played and lyric being sung.

The whole next hour of the concert I couldn’t stop thinking of the generosity of my friends and the stranger. The concert came to a close and we began to head out so we could go visit our friend in the hospital. On our way out the door, I could see the ticket lady was still at her small brown school desk. I put my hand in my pocket and felt my fingers touch the crinkly green paper in my pocket – the measly two dollars that I kept as change.

“I would like to give this money to the girl’s family. I know it’s not a lot, but I hope it helps.”