Shawn Beveridge is a crane operator and made a post to Facebook, starting it off with “This is my friend Harold! Not the guy in the man lift but the one behind him in the wheelchair on the sidewalk. He stays in the nursing home across the street from where we’re building.”
Shawn went on to say that since the first day he and his fellow crew members arrived on the job site, Harold, a disabled man, has sat out there in that spot practically all day long. He takes his lunch break when the workers do and he’s back and there with them until the crane shuts down.
Shawn figured he was just tired of being cooped up inside all day and wanted to spend some good, quality hours outside while some work was being done in his neighborhood. But after a few days, curiosity got the best of Shawn, so he decided to walk over to Harold and introduce himself.
They had quite a conversation… about 2 and a half hour’s worth. But Shawn learned quite a bit about Harold, and he’s so glad he took the time to talk to him. Harold is coming to the end of his life. He has heart valves that are clogged and is dealing with some other disease, that Shawn could not recall. But a while before Harold’s health got all out of hand, he used to operate cranes. So, naturally, watching a crane in action is a big thrill for Harold. He used to love doing that for a living, said Shawn, and he’s really happy to be able to be so close to one once again.
Harold has three children who he has not seen in the last 7 years and he has been living the last few years in a nearby nursing home. So Shawn got to thinking, and he made Harold a deal.
Everyday, after work, he would ask Harold how he was doing operating that crane. Shawn feels he could always learn from any expert critique. And in return, Shawn would bring him a coffee every morning and buy him lunch twice a week as long as he was working on the job site.
Harold beamed with the offer. It gave him a chance to talk about something he loved and to guide a younger worker. And also there’s that coffee and lunch. Shawn claims he posted about it to basically say that if he never walked over and talked to Harold, he would have never had the opportunity to meet such an amazing person. He then put the challenge to anyone reading his post to never put off talking to someone you meet in your daily life.
This is my friend Harold! Not the guy in the man lift but the one behind him in the wheelchair on the sidewalk. He stays…
Posted by Shawn Beveridge on Wednesday, 11 September 2019
It’s so good to make someone else’s life a little happier, and you’d be really surprised at what it does for your own.
