Wednesday I went to the Recycle Spot in the old Benjamin Plaza Shopping Center… Some would mark this next to the old Hypermart, but my frame of reference is the old Tippin’s–though there’s nothing there now except for potholes and a Fire House in the lot which one housed a mall. But I was hauling a truck bed full of allergens and molded paper to sort and recycle and the temperatures were expected to hit 100. I should have been there earlier.
I wasn’t really dreading the task, but I was tired and hot.
An older man, probably in his 70s asked if I would like some help, and I was somehow able to answer him with, “That would be great.” Sometimes pride keeps me from letting people help, but I also know that I genuinely LIKE to help, and Yes was the answer. I would like some help.
As older generations have done before, he started to outwork me with his speed and energy. But he was sweet and we made conversation about why I was moving all this STUFF. I’ve repeated the following a few times, “My mom’s moving out of the same house after 24 years. Neither my brother or I left well, so our stuff is there, and so is my Grandma’s.” He told me his wife died five years ago and he’s still sifting through things and finding things to throw away.
Eventually, the military came up somehow. I think I mentioned my brother. He told me that his brother’s were Navy men, but he was in the Army. I proudly told him that I was able to spend nearly three years on an Army base… We both mentioned that we spent time in Germany in unison. Then we stopped and looked at each other as he asked what base.
“Giessen.”
“My wife is from Giessen.”
It turns out he married a German that he met in the same Dining Facility where I spent so much time. She was studying to be a nurse on an American base. He was a military police officer in Butzbach, where I lived during my stay. They married and moved back to the U.S.
When he found out that I was on the base as a Youth Minister, we talked about God and faith and church… He invited me to his church, and I wasn’t sure what he’d say when I told him I was Catholic. But he smiled and said, “You know exactly what I’m talking about.” As it was clear we come from different denominations he went on to say something profound, “I think one of the biggest reasons people feel bad or guilty or sinful is sometimes because another person wanted them to feel that way.”
Bob also talked about how he just likes to help, especially around his church. Sometimes, “people get the wrong impression (about his motives),” he thinks, “But I only had one wife.” He referred to the people he like to help as the elderly because they’re older than him.
In the end, the heat forced me to run for cover before Bob. I told him I’d rather talk and visit, but I just couldn’t stand out in the heat any longer. He told me the heat didn’t bother him and that’s why he asked if I wanted help. 
Sometimes I feel like I’ve got to tackle a task alone. It’s funny, huh? Almost silly that I would think that with so many beautiful people around. And to imagine what I would have missed that day if I would have said, “No thank you.”
