Be generous

Back in my high school days, the Initial D anime series was all the rage amongst us car enthusiasts. Drifting - the act of deliberately power-sliding a car - was fast becoming the rage, even for those us of an age who can only dream of driving. Youtube wasn’t yet a thing then; media distribution was still largely on physical media. That’s precisely how I watched Initial D, popping in a disc one episode after another. Kids have it so much easier nowadays.

One particular day after school, an older friend of a classmate was visiting from another school. Sadly, I’ve completely forgotten his name. It was probably Henry. Like me, he was also enthusiastic about cars, so we naturally got to talking about various automotive-relate topics. Initial D and drifting came up, and Henry mentioned he has a DVD called Drift Bible. The premise is simple: the drift king of Japan - Keiichi Tsuchiya - teaches you how to drift.

Seeing as Henry and I (I’m pretty sure that’s not his name) have only met a few times, I was totally undeserving of the kindness that was about to happen. He offered to drive me to his house, give me the Drift Bible DVD to borrow, then drive me home. As someone who lives an hour bus ride from my high school, the generosity of a lift home was overwhelming enough (no such thing as an UBER back then, kids). Lending a DVD to practically a stranger? That is above and beyond.

I’m writing all this because I feel tremendously guilty: I still have that DVD! I’m looking at it right now as I’m typing these words out. The jerk that I am never returned the borrowed item. An olive branch utterly cut off, a possible long friendship over cars completely disregarded. I can only say thank you to Henry for his massive generosity. If he’s somehow reading this, you can find me via the contact links at the bottom right.

And I know, your name is not Henry.

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The shame!

Be generous

With the coronavirus still raging on - even though we are at the endgame now with the vaccine rollout - there were to be no Super Bowl party this year. We simply cannot take the risk. Getting COVID now would be like getting shot after the war has been declared over. Just need to hang on until we each get our date with the vaccine needle.

So I was fully content with watching the big game alone, until my housemate said our neighbor is having a party. He - the neighbor - pulled the TV from his bedroom, placed it on a stand in his driveway, and circled it with various folding camping chairs. Since it’s not wise to have an indoor party, our neighbor brought it outside. Turns out I watched the Super Bowl with a crowd of people after all. It was a good time.

What struck me most was the sheer generosity of the neighbor. Along with the television setup, he had the barbecue going with various meats, and coolers full of beer and soda. All this out-of-pocket money just to serve others, to give them a good time. I have to say, enjoying this generosity humbled me to do better myself. To be kind, and help make the lives of others better and happier.

This same neighbor let us borrowed his absurdly tall ladder to string up our own Christmas lights last December. That is someone you are glad to have to live by you. A person you can count on in case of emergencies.

I endeavor very much to be that type of person as well.

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Nice.