He reminded me of my dad, though he looked nothing like him. He was in his late 30’s, dark skinned, polite and spoke understandable English: “excuse me, may I clean your windshield?” My dad doesn’t speak English. In all honesty I didn’t care for the man to clean my windshield, granted it was super dirty but my poor “piñata” as we call it was gonna get just as dirty if not more on the way home. I told him “No, that’s fine” and pulled out the only cash I had left in my wallet, about three bucks and handed them to him. I told him “It’s okay, just leave it.”
He didn’t want to take to my money and said “that’s fine, you can give it to me after” and I said: “well, what if I don’t see you after?” I made him take it and went inside to the taco shop to eat. I went ahead and ordered with my friend and sat down to eat, we sat by the window and I couldn’t help but look out to the man cleaning my windshield. He had left it impeccably clean and had moved on to the rest of the windows and was now rubbing my hood getting all the little spots and bugs out.
My heart hurt, this man was surpassing my expectations. He was going that extra mile for just those couple of dollars I gave him. He was obviously a hard worker that maybe had just lost his job and was probably trying to still get some money for him and his family.
I wondered if he already had lunch. I asked my friend how much cash she had on her. She had five dollars; I asked her for them and told her I would pay her lunch. She handed me the money, knowing what I was about to do.
I went outside and introduced myself to him. At first, I spoke to him in English but realized he didn’t speak it that well, so I spoke to him in Spanish. “Soy Saramaria. Por favor ya dejelo que asi quede gracias. (I’m Saramaria, please just leave it like that. Thank you)” His name was Hector, I wish I could remember his last name but don’t. I got to talk to him and understood why he was out there in that parking lot asking to clean windshields. He told me he liked helping young college students like me, because he knew we are generous and we are also trying to better ourselves. I told him I imagined he probably had family and respected what he was trying to do and asked him if I could buy him lunch.
He didn’t want me to, he felt that with the money I had already gave him it was enough to buy himself lunch. I really wanted to buy him lunch and let him keep the money, so I did. During our short conversation, I also told him how he reminded me of my dad; humble, hard working, honest as well as full of integrity. He said thank you and that he appreciated that. Before leaving the taco shop, I gave him his burrito and said “Good bye and God bless” he did as well and asked me to say hi to my dad.
I gave this man money and bought him lunch, but he in turn taught me a greater lesson. Give more than what’s expected, even if you’re just cleaning some ones dirty windows. Money really isn’t everything, it’s just a part of it, caring is a greater one and listening crucial. I understand that sometimes we can’t give money and if we can, not a lot; but sometimes just a smile can be enough. A simple “Hi” to a stranger can be plenty and “How are you doing?” more than enough. Let’s not forget to just give the simplest and greatest gift of all, a smile, genuine, real, free, and beautiful and can make a world of difference to someone in need of just that.
