Above and Beyond

I blogged awhile back about the new show that was coming to ABC in March - Secret Millionaire. So far it has been an inspiring, eye-opening show to watch. One episode in particular that they did in Gary, Indiana was very sad knowing that it was a city just a few hours from me. I just caught up on the L.A. episode that aired a week ago (what would I do without hulu? who actually has time to watch television in real time!) and this episode had a specific incident that had a profound impact on me.

The millionaire spends one week in a very low-income, rough area looking for organizations and people that are helping to really make a difference in bettering their community. This week's millionaire - John Ferber- was on skid row in Los Angeles. Skid Row is a positively terrifying place with over ninety thousand homeless people residing there. John found a guy named Amin (AH-mean) who takes donated clothes, sleeping bags, etc. to skid row daily. Amin also uses his own money to put together baggies he calls "hygiene kits" that have things like soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deoderant and such in them. John went with Amin on one of the deliveries and as they were passing things out directly out of Amin's car, an elderly man with a walker came by wearing worn out shoes that were covered in feces. He passes by and Amin yells after him to find out the size of his shoes and the man responds. Within two seconds Amin has taken off his OWN shoes and given them to this homeless man. He took his very own shoes right off his feet and gave them away. This wasn't in a movie, a Bible story, or a song. This literally happened not very long ago in L.A. People like Amin really do exist, and man I would like to be one. How amazing is that! How absolutely generous and selfless and incredible. It may sound like not such a big thing, but really, how many people do you know who have done something like that? I know I never have...

Can you please just watch the show? It's incredible.

JORDAN