Young Man From Detroit Makes An Unlikely New Friend
Azizi Jasper who lives in Detroit but grew up in Grand Rapids is many things. Describing himself as an Author, Community Strategist, Campaign Director, Artist, and also a Social Worker, he was caught off guard recently when doing something most people would ignore, and it turned into him making the most unlikely of friends. After leaving his office for a lunchtime chiropractic appointment he saw a little old lady getting rained on, seemingly bewildered in the parking lot. It turned out she had forgot where she parked.
He offered to have her in his car and help her look for it, and after a slight hesitation and giving him a once over, up and down, she took him up on his offer. But the really cool part of his story was that after they found her car in a different parking lot, he used it as an opportunity to make a new friend, and it worked:
We sat there and talked for about 30 more mins. She told me that she’s from Germany and came to America after the War. She married an Italian guy from Philly and had her only child, (a son) with him. He lives close but doesn’t come by as much as she’d like.
Also that she remarried, but he passed away from a heart attack 44 years ago. She never remarried and lives in the same house, and drives the same car. (The one we just found)
After going into each other's personal lives for a while he made a small joke saying that he 'Got the number,' but also mentioned that although he missed his appointment and still has a sore back, he scored a hot future date forthcoming.
We need more positivity like this in our world. All that lady wanted was some time to talk to someone and by reaching out, probably made that woman's month. Even in a world where today we want to steer away from people and stay within a protective bubble, just reaching out like that can really make a difference.