When Meghan and I went to Seattle right before Christmas, there was one thing I forgot to add into my post about our trip over on the ferry that bears mentioning.

There was what looked to be a Middle-Eastern family near us on the boat who were carrying presents. I believe it was the mom and dad and three kids. Between them they had about 6 presents wrapped up – green paper and red bows – and they looked to be plastic containers from the looks of them. I wondered if they were baked goods. We got off the ferry behind the family and they ventured onward to their gathering.

Well, so we thought.

We caught up with them on the street past the ferry terminal along the waterfront and just as we did the first homeless guy they saw they went up to him and presented him one of these presents. They homeless guy was caught by surprise and he smiled in a way that you know he was really touched by the gesture.

It made me smile inside and out (it was hard NOT to) and I mentioned it to Meghan in case she didn’t see what was happening (it was quite busy around us at that moment). The look on the homeless man’s face was one of surprise and sheer joy, and he thanked the family. You could easily tell he was touched by it and was grateful. You know, it was pretty awesome to see people do something like that – the spirit of giving so freely to a total stranger, and giving to someone who was in need. It was heart-warming to see parents teaching their kids these things.

It was also good to see people teaching the REST of us around them those things…