The Beginning...

I'm an ordinary person. So is my husband. We aren't heroes and we certainly aren't saints. In fact, we're not even religious. However, a few years ago we created a concept called "Team Samaritan." From that time until now, Team Samaritan has been a private catchphrase between us, sort of like an inside joke, but it holds meaning for us and maybe it will hold meaning for you too.

To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure how it started. I have a vague recollection that it might have begun around the time we first saw the movie "Pay It Forward." For those that haven't seen it, add it to your Netflix queue right now. Basically, the movie is about a young boy who tries to change the world through a class project. The boy's concept for his project is simple but profound - instead of "paying back" good deeds, people should "pay it forward" by doing good deeds for three new people. In turn, a chain-mail type situation begins, the three new people each have to "pay it forward" to three new people and so on. It's a very inspiring movie and I highly recommend it.

In any event, we were moved by the idea of the movie and a few weeks later we stumbled upon a situation that allowed us the opportunity to put our thoughts into action.

On a random weekend afternoon we stopped at Home Depot to pick up a few things for our house. This particular Home Depot is located directly off of a highway and when we pulled back out onto the highway we saw two men on the shoulder about 20 feet ahead. Behind their pickup truck lay a mound of Trex-like decking that had apparently slid right off the bed of their truck when they acclerated out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

It was a total mess. They were on the side of a highway. They had over 30 heavy planks to pick up and put back in the truck. One of the men was significantly older and looked to be having a hard time bending to pick up the planks. Even better, it was a windy and raw spring day.

So we did what most people would do. We drove right by them.

Then we felt guilty. We got off at the next exit, turned around, and went back. It took us about 10 minutes to get back there and yet no one else had stopped.

It was a man and his elderly father who were looking to build a new deck at the son's house. They were so grateful for our help. We heaved half the load into my husband's pickup truck to avoid a similar spill-out and followed the two guys back to the son's house to deliver the planks. They wanted to buy us a pizza for our trouble but we already had our reward - it just felt good to have helped.

When we got back into my husband's truck, we smiled goofily at each other and high-fived (yes, we are dorks). And so "Team Samaritan" began. :)