As if too drive home the message..
 

After being confronted yesterday with tables brimming with glasses of wine this evening something happened which I have decided to take as a message, a warning if you like, a follow up to that moment yesterday where I was tempted for a fraction of a second to take the glass being offered.
My husband came in from a quick trip to the local shops and said there was a man lying on the pavement near our house. We went out and discovered he had been lying there for an hour, he was freezing cold and could barely stand. He was in his 50's and clearly drunk, well spoken, apart from the slurring, he rambled about his wife leaving him ( seven years ago!) his wretched life, his lovely children, how embarrassed he was to be lying on the pavement.
Here was a man who had just drank too much, too often and had, this evening, fallen over and could not get up. I made him a cup of tea and after a while we discovered he lived not far from us and my husband got the car and we loaded him in and drove him home.

Drunk and relying on the kindness of strangers - I've been there and I never want to go there again. It was kind of pathetic too see a grown man on the floor, I can say that without feeling judgemental because I have been that pathetic.
So this odd occurrence on my doorstep, as it were, was almost like a follow up message from yesterday's 'temptation' - Drink? Never, Never, Never.

It was so kind of you and your husband to help the man who was drunk and had fallen. It's interesting that when we open ourselves to receiving messages like that, we will learn and grow and become stronger.

So funny to read this.

I follow a podcast where the host interviews different spiritual people, just ordinary folk with incredible stories of how they live spiritual lives. I love it because it's so uplifting and makes such a change from all the divisiveness and bad news in the normal media.

Anyway, lately the host has been observing that, these days, the Universe seems to be sending us messages very clearly and in a sensible logical order. Not like before where there was a lot of having to figure out what the messages meant.

Your tale seems to confirm that.

Nice share, dustyfox. Thank you.

Wow, what nice kind people you and your husband are, dusty 🙂

A lot of people would be nervous of helping. I probably would’ve just asked if all was OK and left it at that. You really made a difference today.

That could have been any one of us. That's where this leads if not worse. I say heck yeah that's a message.

That was a kind thing to do to help that guy. That could have been any one of us. Yes, that was a clear message. :)

It was so kind of you and your husband to help that man, Dusty. He’s so lucky.
Reading your story makes me think, “never again” either.

Good for you Dusty - your spirit and humanity shines brightly.

Thank you for helping that man, you probably saved his life.

Very true. It being cold he could have died of hypothermia.

"There, but for the grace of God, go I."

I was thinking that from the hypothermia angle, but then I thought how the poor guy is feeling today. He’s having a wretched time of it, and during such times nothing goes right and no one’s on your side. But then a couple of strangers show such kindness, it could well be the catalyst to turn things around.

That was a wonderful thing for you and your husband to do dustyfox. There is a message there too which is saying to not to give in to temptation as one drink can not only lead to many but to situations such as this guy found himself in.

As an aside, I would love to know how much the guy remembered when he woke up. First, if he can remember lying on the ground and second, if he can remember being helped to his feet, your kindness, getting a cup of tea and then being taken home. I've been drunk many times in the past where I've woken up in bed with little memory of the night before, no idea how I got home and to bed and sometimes with bumps and bruises that I couldn't recall getting.

many's another would have called the cops or stepped over him (don't know what's worse)

It's a testament to the lessons youve learned and the love of humanity you've developed in your sobriety that you acted how you did. A lesson for us all I believe.

my only observation is that you missed a chance to tuck a card into his pocket with SR web address on it...lol

Oh, poor man. Prayers that he finds his way out of his self-imposed misery.

Wow yes , Triggered, slipping a piece of paper into his pocket with the URL for SR would have been amazing - perhaps in future I will keep a few little slips of paper with those details tucked in my phone case. It's been a life line for so many of us.....

Dusty, thanks so much for that story. I agree with others here, how wonderful for you and your husband to help, great timing the universe gave you in helping to strengthen your focus on your healthy lifestyle, yes, I wonder how much the helpless but hopefully not hopeless person remembers, and great idea about slipping folks the URL for SR😍🤓

If that isn't the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come showing us all what awaits, I don't know what is. Thanks for sharing that amazing turn of events Dustyfox. You and your husband are doers of good deeds.

I’m glad you avoided temptation, and also that you were able to be there for someone in need.❤️

There but for the grace of God go I...

Exactly...
Nice work helping the guy out.

Wow That is a very sobering, astute thought, you are right Surrendered - it was a glimpse into a future of what could be - your observation sent a shiver through me - I now want to end the story by saying.
....''The following evening my husband returned to the house where he had left the man and knocking on the door he waited until an elderly women answered, who he took to be the mans mother.
He enquired about the man , the woman looked at him curiously her face pale and sad. ' You must mean my son' she said ' But you are mistaken he died last year, fell in the street drunk, not far from here. He died of hyperthermia, no one stopped and no one cared' she paused ' And worst of all' she continued ' he didn't care about himself either he drank himself to death'. 'Last year?' my husband was incredulous. ' Yes a year ago yesterday in fact' - she stared at my husband ' Were you a friend, why are you here' My husband replied, hardly able to speak ' Yes a friend, I am sorry for your loss' She nodded and went back inside closing the door. As my husband got back in his care he noticed on the floor of the passenger seat a small piece of paper, it was the address of a sober recovery site I had slipped in the mans pocket only the night before...

There but for the grace of God..... and I thank God there is a better ending for us all.