Let me pretext this story by saying: It's long I know, but bear with me it's a true story from my life that had a profound impact on me and how I view other souls in this crazy upside down world and I think we all could use some good vibes today.
It's July 2003. I had just graduated high school after what felt like an eternity of butting heads with rich kids and out-of-touch teachers. I was looking for an escape. As it turns out an escape found me when I was given 2 tickets to SarsStock in Toronto. I had never been to Canada but was really excited to visit the home of Moose and Molson, because thats what I knew of Canada at that point in my life lol.
I invited a friend to share in this adventure with me because upon receiving my driver's license on my 18th birthday I had to surrender it because of charges stemming from an underage at a Tom Petty concert. The only hitch was he had a license but no car. So we did what most 18 year olds do... we decided to steal his older brothers car and drive it to another country lol.
I borrowed my mom's credit card and booked a hostel in Toronto off of whatever major travel site was king at the time. For 4 days it was something like $80 at the time. I rolled somewhere in the vicinity of 10 super shitty joints, stuffed them in a newport box and are adventure began.
Upon arriving at the border we were greeted by a jovial Canadian guard. He asked us what are business was in Canada. Our reply was simply 2 words... "The Stones." He laughed and said sarcastically "no kidding, haven't heard that one today. Welcome to Canada." We were welcomed to Canada with a
.
This is where the story picks up speed and drives my point home. We navigated to Toronto with no problem, other than the QEW is one scary place when you've never been behind a wheel. We get to Toronto and find the hostel. One big problem though... the hostel is no longer a hostel and we have no credit cards. We're kind of freaking out at this point. A man approaches us after hearing our conversation and asks us if we need some help. After telling him the deal, he says that he's actually the manager of the newly-renovated apartments and that they were all full but if we wanted he'd be more than happy to put us up at his girlfriends house. Having no other alternatives we agreed and followed him to the suburbs.
Once we got there, he introduced us to his girlfriend, who looked an awful lot like Shakira. She agreed that it was best if we crashed in her basement as they had just got done renovating it into 2 guest bedrooms and would work out perfect. Here are 2 strangers going well out of their way for 2 other strangers just because they could and felt like they should. After getting settled in I insisted on paying them for the amenities they were providing, after some reluctance he said "how bout $60." I said "great, Canadian or American?" His reply was "oh right $40 American." Awesome here ya go! After getting the business taken care of he said he and the girlfriend were going out for dinner and to make ourselves comfortable.
We decided to take in the city. Which means we went and shoulder-tapped for some XXL and more weed because hey when in Rome! We finally scored some decent cheap weed from a valet boy and scored some brews outside a Subway. We were tired from the drive and decided to head back and relax. The dude, whose name escapes me, and his girlfriend were already in bed. We made our way to the basement where we found brand new blankets, pillows, towels, wash cloths and hygiene products waiting for us. These 2 strangers took our $40 and used it to buy us stuff. All for no other reason than to be a good human being, towards other human beings.
We went to the show and it was amazing but what was really amazing were these 2 strangers that showed a couple of young, confused kids the true meaning of compassion and gave us the benefit of the doubt. We left and said our thanks and goodbyes and thats the last we ever saw them, but I will remember them and the lessons that were taught to me for the rest of my days on this beautiful planet. So the next time you see someone in distress, help them out. I've said it before, you're only doing as good as your neighbor. Life's too short to be wasted being wicked. We need to help each other out or this place and everybody in it is going to fall apart. Nothing but love and light your brother Neosapien out.
