The Greater Good

Why is it so hard to believe in the greater good of people? Stranger Danger. It's so ingrained in our upbringing that anyone unfamiliar becomes suspect. Like today, here I am trying to beg, borrow, steal trucks and muscle from my friends to bring this ugly & used bedroom furniture to Goodwill. I don't have the heart to break it up for trash, because even if it's ugly... there might be someone that needs it. Someone who doesn't always get to choose how pretty their dresser gets to be. And then I realized... why? Why ask my friends for their time, their trucks and their muscle for a bunch of ugly furniture? Is this really what I want to use up my favors for (I really do believe we are allotted favors, not to take advantage of)....?

Craigslist!

Duh! Put it up for free and the next person that needs it can do the work of getting it out of my place. Seems like a fair trade, a little effort for a life of good use. But it isn't long before the Stranger Danger sits in. Maybe it's because I'm a petite female in an apartment all alone... or maybe it's because my mother says "They'll come to your HOUSE?!" Either way, there's no way around the fact that in the back of my head I am thinking about all the things that could go wrong giving my address out and inviting someone into my home, even for the briefest of moments.

But I want to believe in the greater good of people. I call the people that inquired first, Tim or Holli they say to ask for. I call, it's Tim. Tim's got a bit of a slur to his speech, not a drunk slur, more of a drawl. How do I say this... Tim seems like a bit of a mess. He tells me to call him back in a couple of hours. I do. Tim's at the mechanic now because he got a flat tire and won't be able to pick up the dresser until tonight. Tim seems like the kind of guy that can't catch a break.  Maybe even the type of guy that bad luck surrounds. The more I talk to Tim, the harder it is to hold onto the greater good. Finally he tells me, it's for his kid who has never had a dresser before, all his clothes in boxes on the floor. I want to believe that. I want to believe. I hope that it is a lucky find for his family and it helps them some. But, I have to admit that deep down inside of me, Tim makes me nervous. So we left our conversation with the fact that I may or may not be around tonight and will leave the dresser on the landing outside of my place for him to pick up.

I hope I'm wrong about Tim. I want to be embarrassed by even thinking these thoughts. I hope that our exchange is nothing more than me trying to offer a small amount of help to someone...and, them, them getting that ugly furniture out of my life forever....