Ask Lemmy

You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating for the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment.

What a bad ass

I am single but I love to grow a garden. I put most of it out for free. IDC if you are rich or poor, you can try my tomatoes, cukes, etc for nothing. Just don't take the whole basket.

A friend recently started a group for feeding the homeless in our city. When we can, my wife and I buy some food and water and spend an afternoon handing it out. It isnt much and our taxes should be going to help these unfortunate folks but it helps and shows them there is still some humanity out there. It is a reminder to be thankful.

There's an example that occurred in reverse but is recent enough to be relevant. I have a friend (the same friend who a little bit ago a lot of people here scolded me for something I said to him two years ago) who had a birthday at the time (this was a year ago), and he mentioned how stressful birthdays were for him and that his family (who he stayed with due to his diagnosis) was abusive and never typically got him anything. I had no technological way to send anything, so I braved sending him fifty dollars (or was it a hundred) and sending it to him across the continent where he was. Eight days later, he opened it and said it was the best gift anyone ever gave him. I didn't brag about it at the time like I might sometimes for things (not that I consider someone doing that a bad thing), but I felt like I had made someone's world.

Meanwhile, his BF saw this. He has (or had) a BF who would often trying to change him to fit his (the BF's) image, such as invalidating his DID and transgender identity (which everyone assumes is why he is interested in him), and the BF had a kind of reputation for not being a team player in any sense of the word. But he saw what I did and saw it as a challenge to his productivity. It wasn't a week later when I was told he was pumping my friend hundreds of dollars to "top" me. I stood there silently as a bunch of money came pouring in for my friend, who was probably elated to have so much money now. He (the BF) probably thought these actions were overshadowing me, but all I could do is sit there and watch it all and, in Steve Urkel's voice, think "did I do that". If my friends are happy, that's 99.9% of my work done.

I hate to break it to you, but that story is actually false. There’s a podcast about it by Malcolm Gladwell.