A story that may cause some of us to think

[bhzmafia14]

This story is from a poster over at the Grizz boards and its kinda all over the place, but its a very good read.

Just to sum up, people were talking about their favorite TV shows and this was his response:

What's TV?

I gave up cable 2 years ago because I was so sick of dealing with Comcast.
Gave up Netflix about 6 months ago.

Sold all four of my flatscreens over the last 6 months.


Started helping an elderly relative lately.
Got renovations almost done on my house and getting ready to sell it soon.
Got promoted and a decent raise.

A WORD TO YOU ALL.

Get to know your family and relatives and elderly neighbors that you don't know and find out if they need help or just company.
A simple phone call (not text, email, facebook,.... but, actual human interaction), a trip to the grocery, or out to dinner.
It's extremely rewarding to help others as it also will help you as well.

My girlfriend and I started helping out her 86yr old 2nd cousin we met after he called her out of the blue about 2 months ago because he knew we had dealings with selling antique furniture and had a trunk he wanted to get rid of. After talking to him we realized he didn't have anyone left in his life as his wife had passed away and they never had children, and he was the last one left of all his friends and most of his close family.
We started talking to him everyday, just checking on him and seeing him almost everyday (sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes a hour of two). Just talking or sometimes running an errand or two, is all that we are doing ... it's that time I used to spend watching TV.






More on this later ......

The next post about a day later was this...

Thanks for the kind words.


I keep up with the Grizz through the Internet, I also work at night mostly as I manage, bartend, and serve at a local restaurant that has TVs in the bar. (Unfortunately they're tiny, otherwise I'd invite you all down to eat, drink, be merry ... Seriously, they're like desktop computer monitor sized)


The reason I brought this up about our elderly relative is because .... As some of you know, I lost my wife of almost 17yrs not too long ago in an auto accident. The absolute horror and loss sent me to a place I hope none of you ever have to be. But through a very kind old friend I hadn't seen or spoken to in years, she helped me through it.

She was my HS girlfriend. And this is the same girlfriend I have now whom I owe my life to now.
Things are fine and I'm in love with her and she with me.
This elderly cousin is hers.



Now the point.........

Just because she (and we) showed compassion and understanding to someone who needed it, we have been rewarded.
Now please understand, we were doing this anyway and would've continued to do so until such time is no longer needed. No one knew this unassuming older man who has lived in the same small house since the 50s, drove the same car for the past 15yrs had decided to leave us this house and car in his will. Extremely generous and really over the top if you ask me but, I'm not gonna argue with him about it. It's his, he can do with it, what he wants right? He also decided to leave some money to us as well, he told us the other day as we were running errands with him, one stop being his lawyers office. No one knew he had investments and a stock portfolio and an investment banker and actually has a 'net worth.'
This extremely kind elderly man has actually written it all in his will that it is ours once he passes and it's the kind of money we can retire with immediately in my early forties, doubling our combined salaries by living off half the interest this sum generates on its own investments. Our kids (17yrs, 22yrs) may not have to work ... ever.
All because we decided to get up and do the right thing and help someone who needed it.
This won't happen for everybody ..... but, it's happening for me, and if it can happen to me, it can happen to you.

I'll get old (hopefully) one day to and I'll remember to pay it forward as well.

If you see an elderly person struggling with a grocery cart or having a hard time doing something or getting somewhere that act of stopping to help even for just a second can have more meaning to them than you could ever know and who knows, your kindness may be rewarded in the most unknown and/or improbable way imaginabl

cliff notes
- guy gave up watching tv
- start helping the elderly
-kept in contact with his gf from high school after losing his wife of 17 yrs in a car accident
- start helping out his gf's 86 yr old 2nd cousin after he contacted them about selling something
- they kept in touch with him and talked to him every day after they found out he did not have anyone left in his life
- the man is giving them his house and car when he passes away
- he also had a pretty large sum of money in investments that no one knew about and he's giving that to them as well
-the guy and his gf may never have to work again (probably not even his kids)


There were a lot of parts in this story that made me think. Just the fact that he lost his wife so quickly at a young age and how that emotional situation made him change some of the things he did. Also, the fact that someone he truly cared about in his past came back into his life, helped him and they started to help the elderly. He gave up something that could be so time wasting to do something more positive.

I don't necessarily waste a lot of time throughout the day, but I could do even more with the time I have. I'm pretty driven, but a lot of times we can get caught up in doing so much for ourselves that we don't think to help others that really need it.

Just thought I would share.

 

[bhergh]

Nice cliffs I think a new rule should be cliffs first

 

[spot]

i can kind of relate to this

met an old guy at a grocery store interacted with him and found out he was pretty much alone (no wife/ estranged kids)

i would see him weekly at the store and overtime got to know him and helped him out with some errands i guess kind of fill in as a grandson

he ending up passing away a while ago didnt get a house/car like the other guy but i dont really care it was nice to be able to help someone out who needed it

May he rest in a better place

I think in general if people do good good things will happen

but there really is no punishment if you do bad it just shows a persons true character

 

[createdestroy]

 

[nazdrowie]

1. befriend rich old people

2. ???

3. profit

 

[marco23]

This really made me think, I don't really watch tv but I do spent ALOT of time on the Internet and I should invest my time in something else. Thanks for posting OP

 

[guzzy]

Need to lay off the comp more.

 

[jayhood23]

Honestly that has nothing to do with watching TV. You can do this with 100 Tvs in your house. I doubt him and his gf spent 24 hours of their day 365 days helping someone....

This has that "I help people and that means I'm better than you" feel to it more than anything.

 

[waitwut]

saw wall of text and scrolled down for cliffs

stopped reading after he said he still talked to his hs gf

 

[bhzmafia14]

I don't think he's saying you have to sell your TV to have a good influence on other people's lives . Even if you are at work, on lunch, etc. there may be someone out there who needs help or just want someone to talk to. You don't necessarily have to just go searching and searching for people to help because most of the time they are right in front of your face.

I know most of my days consist of an 8-9 hour job (8-5 or 6), working out 3-4 days out the week for about an hour or hour and a half, and my MBA program on Thursday nights (3-4 hrs). Sometimes I go to tutoring on Mondays that last about an hour. On most evenings from about 7-11pm, I'm not really doing much of anything except for maybe studying for a test, watching tv, on the web (like I am now ), etc.

I want to start by simply helping someone that I do not know once a week. IMO, its not all about helping elderly people, but just people in some need.

 

[you go boy]

this sounds like a good idea if i had social skills

 

[acemaster193]

I remember I had this sort of relationship with a guy in his 60's. Met him at the library where I used to work at. We had a lot in common, and talked sports all the time. He was a minor league player back in the days and since I was playing baseball, he went out his way to train with me on the diamond 4-5 times a week one summer. Taught me a lot about the game and life in general. Good dude, I ended up going to college and we lost touch, but I'm sure he's still all good. You never know who you'll meet int his world.

 

[nychiphophippo]

dude just put resellers onto a new hustle

 

[luong1209]

And can you now imagine how many people are helping the elderly for the wrong reasons? Hoping for a come up?

 

[bhergh]

Actually thus happened to some oldguy by my housr in San Diego. . The family started coming around right before he died and now they have all his stuff after his death and even had a yard sale

 

[the hater boxden]

humble brag in disguise

 

[fresh out dabox]

^^^

 

[solexsup]

Going to the nursing home tomorrow.

 

[Top Boy]

Saw OP's two sentences and immediately scrolled down to see if there was cliffs.

 

[SoleByThePound]

Nice cliffs I think a new rule should be cliffs first

The lazy getting lazier, jesus ******g christ

 

[al audi]

What if granny ask you for D word to that YouTube video? Then what?

 

[mo matik]

Cool story brah

Kidding, but seriously I think it's a valuable story.

There is one big problem though. The motivations provided in the story. "Unplug, and stop wasting time and use your time to help those around you and you might get rich." The problem with this is that it's too easily reduced to:

1. befriend rich old people
2. ???
3. profit

No, we should not unplug for the prospect of a possible reality in which we make millions for just doing what we should be doing anyway, which is helping others. We should unplug because we are aware of what tv often is which is a complete waste of time. And the most sophisticated propaganda machine in history.
.
"The medium is the message." -Marshall McLuhan

 

[nychiphophippo]

cliffs?

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

not srs but srs

 

[mo matik]

cliffs: start reading more

 

[ecruteakcityboy]

Senior Citizens either love you or hate you though.